Quirks and QUARCs
by Blaki Bianchi
Summary: Ethan Hunt has to retrieve a device prototype in order to save a fellow agent. Then he recruits a young lady, who is much more capable than she gives herself credit for, to help him infiltrate the organization and make sure the device doesn't get into the wrong hands.
1. Prologue: To Catch a Thief

Author Notes: Takes place after M:I and before M:I2.

* * *

Ethan was suddenly aware that he was awake. He began assessing the situation. In his line of work every awakening was a careful routine. He listened carefully for a few seconds, then when he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary he opened his eyes. He was in the bed where he had fallen asleep after coming back from the mission. It was still dark, so he must have been awoken by something other than daylight or getting enough sleep. Once he was sure the room was empty he got up from the bed silently and made his way to the door. He stood in the doorway to the main area of the hotel suite.

"Luther." he said quietly, as he scanned the room. His eyes fell on his teammate's figure on the couch. He was not moving. Suddenly worried about his friend Ethan started walking towards him, but had only taken two steps when he caught a movement from the corner of his eye. Reacting instinctually he raised his arm and swung around, grabbing the hand that was reaching for him. As his mind took note of how slender the wrist that he was holding was he dragged it forward and slammed it into the wall, the body it was attached to following and letting out a gasp as it hit the wall. Now he saw that his attacker was short and was dressed in tight black clothes that covered everything except the eyes. He was pretty sure it was a woman and the figure seemed familiar.

Ethan grabbed her other hand and pinned them both above her head. He carefully removed the ring and threw it away. Keeping one hand on hers he pulled the mask off her head. Long black hair spilled over her shoulders. He pushed it out of her face. He could just make out her features in the dim light coming through the uncurtained window.

"Meiko," he said flatly.

"Ethan?" She tried to turn around, but he held her hands tight and pressed her against the wall with his body.

"What are you doing here, Meiko?" he asked, not exactly pleased with this surprise.

"I'm on a job," she said defensively. "I didn't know you would be here, Ethan."

"A job," Ethan repeated. "The plans."

"Yeah. They weren't too happy that you and your friend there snuck away with the drive."

"How did they track it here?" Ethan's voice was low, but threatening, demanding an answer, and he held her tighter.

"I don't know. Honest. They called me after. There was mention of some kind of beacon."

How could they have missed it. Luther had checked the drive for any signals. Perhaps the easiness of the mission had made them overconfident and they hadn't been thorough enough. He would have to get Luther to take a closer look once he woke up. In the meantime he had to deal with the problem at hand.

"Don't move," Ethan commanded as he began searching Meiko. He felt over her arms and pulled a few blades from hidden pockets in her sleeves. He ran his hands through her hair, down her neck and along her shoulders.

"Oh, Ethan," she sighed. He continued down her back and found an assortment of small tools tucked into pockets at her waist. "Just like old times, huh?"

Ethan didn't reply as he felt over every inch of her legs, finding a few more blades and darts that he knew had some kind of tranquilizer on them. Her job was usually to get in and out without a body count, so the darts weren't poisoned, except maybe on the rare occasion.

Having removed everything he could find Ethan took a length of wire from the pile that had formed behind him and tied her hands behind her back. He spun her around and pushed her against the wall, his hands on her shoulders. She turned her almond eyes to meet his. Those eyes that had made him lose his mind two years ago.

"Ethan," she said, tenderness in her voice, "I haven't seen you in so long."

He looked away. He wasn't going to fall under her spell again.

They had been assigned to complete a series of missions together. It was a strained partnership between two organizations that would normally be enemies, but were uniting to accomplish something that would be beneficial to both, but neither could accomplish alone. Ethan and Meiko had hit it off right away, focusing on their assigned tasks and leaving the politics to the higher-ups. Their job was to retrieve a series of documents from various targets. Ethan would discover the location of the documents and create an opportunity for Meiko to retrieve the package. She was brilliant with safes and had the stealth of a ninja, leaving behind no trace of her actions, except for the missing items.

After the first mission she had come back with him to the hotel room. He had pressed her against the wall, gazed into those dark eyes tinted with green, and he couldn't help himself. He brought his lips to hers and she responded eagerly, pressing herself up against him. Then he discovered that undressing Meiko was no easy task. But his business was the impossible. and it became like a game for them, a form of foreplay. Even on days when there wasn't a mission she would show up in full gear, and Ethan loved her for it. She was young and wild and it ignited something in him. He still looked back on those two weeks wistfully, wishing he could have just one more night.

"You disappeared without a word, Meiko."

"I'm sorry, Ethan. They said I couldn't see you anymore." She was sincere with sadness in her voice. "They thought we were getting too serious." She grinned and let out a chuckle. "Which of course wasn't true." She hesitated as Ethan looked back at her. "... right?" Her expression fell at the anguish and disappointment in Ethan's eyes. "Oh," she said, looking down.

"Don't move," Ethan said, letting go of her.

"Ethan..."

"Stay there." He was walking back towards the couch, keeping his eyes on her.

"Ethan, let's get away. Just the two of us. It can be just like before."

Ethan stopped and looked at her, momentarily tempted. "What about the job?"

"Forget the job. I want to be with you," she was almost pleading.

Ethan eyed her suspiciously. "You and I both know that you wouldn't leave a job unfinished."

"I would do it for you, Ethan." Her eyes beckoned him, stirring up emotions that he worked hard to keep buried. But it wasn't going to work this time.

"No," he said, steel in his voice. "Stay there and don't move." He picked up a phone from the coffee table.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Take you back to HQ. Let them figure it out." He momentarily took his eyes off her as he dialed, but snapped back when she moved in his peripheral vision. She had lowered herself and was now sitting with her back against the wall. He followed her outstretched leg to the pile that he had removed from her suit.

"Meiko," he spoke as if to a misbehaving child. She pulled her leg in, giving him an innocent look. He walked up to her, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up. "I said, don't move." He felt a prick on the side of his calf. He looked down to see her socked foot pulling away, leaving behind a small dart. She always wore these special socks that allowed her to move silently like a cat.

"Meiko." He dug his fingers tighter into her shoulders, stunned and angry.

"You were right, Ethan." She looked him steadily in the eyes. "I always finish the job." Ethan's vision was beginning to blur. "It was nice seeing you again." Her lips curled into a crooked smile. She pushed off the wall and pressed her lips to his. Ethan's legs gave out and he dropped to his knees, his grip on her loosening. "Goodbye, Ethan," she said, and he thought there was a hint of sadness in her voice, but it might just have been his imagination as his consciousness slipped away.


	2. May I Have This Dance

Ethan strolled confidently into the ballroom. He adjusted his bowtie and smoothed down his jacket. He looked good, he knew that. His tuxedo was cut perfectly to fit his body, his hair fell easily into place in a boyish way that made him look younger than his thirty-seven years. He made his way casually through the room taking in the scene. Everybody was dressed to the nines and stood around chatting in small or large groups as waiters bustled about carrying trays of drinks and hors d'oeuvres. There was a large staircase in the middle that led to a balcony where guests could sit at tables. To the left of the staircase was an expansive dance floor with a small orchestra.

"The mark is near the dance floor," came a voice in Ethan's ear. Luther had arrived earlier and made himself comfortable at one of the tables on the balcony from where he could watch the entire room. Ethan looked up and they shared the slightest of nods.

Ethan walked over to the staircase and leaned against it watching the dancers making their way around in a waltz. Then he spotted the person he was looking for. She was standing among three men, listening politely to their conversation.

"Go get her, cowboy," Luther prompted in a mocking tone. "Are you getting excited about this mission? I haven't known you to go for the older ladies."

"You do what you have to do," muttered Ethan.

The mark was facing him and he had a good opportunity to study her. Her brown hair fell almost to her shoulders with a few curls that reminded of the 50s. Her handsome face featured high cheekbones and an aquiline nose. She was wearing just a trace of makeup for an attractive natural look. Her halter top dress did not show off much cleavage, but when she turned around to greet a passing guest it revealed an exquisite back. The dress hugged her hips and accentuated her curvy figure. Overall she exuded a certain femininity that was quite beautiful and at the same time the way she held herself made for a commanding presence. Ethan may have responded snidely to Luther, but he found that he wasn't dreading this mission at all. Irene Fraser was quite attractive and he had a feeling this could get very interesting.

She must have sensed that she was being watched, because she looked up and straight at him. He put on all his charm and smiled. She studied him for a few seconds and returned the smile. Then she leaned her head just slightly to one side and flicked her eyes toward the dance floor, raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

Taking her hint, Ethan walked over. "Excuse me," he said and held out his hand. "Madam, would you do me the pleasure of this dance." He bowed slightly.

"The pleasure will be mine, I'm sure," she said graciously, taking his hand. "Gentlemen, please excuse me," she added to her companions.

Ethan led her to the dance floor. The orchestra was just leading into a tango. He put his right hand at her waist and firmly pulled her in just a little too close. He held up her other hand in his and looked at her to make sure she was ready. She smiled at him in a way that made him feel like she was onto him, like she could read all his intentions on his face. He shook off the feeling and concentrated on the task at hand. He started out slow and found that she responded easily to his lead, their bodies moving in perfect harmony. He started throwing in more complex moves and did not miss an opportunity to snap her tightly to his body or to brush her cheek with his. He was really getting into it and spun her around and away from him, but while switching his hands he misjudged her speed and missed her hand. With lightning quick reflexes he jumped forward and grabbed her just as she was about to crash into the lead violinist. She gave him a playful accusatory look and he smiled apologetically. Dancing wasn't his strongest skill, he only practiced it because it was fun and came in useful once in a while, and he was glad of his quick reflexes. As the piece ended he dipped her with his face just centimeters away from hers. Their eyes locked and they both knew that they couldn't, didn't want to, leave it at this. Ethan brought her back to standing, still holding her hand.

"Thank you for and enjoyable experience, Mr..." she said letting the question hang.

"Cooper, Ian Cooper."

"Thank you, Mr Cooper."

"The pleasure was all mine." He said with a slight bow of his head. "Might we continue this in a more private location," he asked, smiling with all his charm.

She laughed. "I would like that. But you know as host I can't just leave in the middle of the party. I still have a speech to give, after all." She studied him for a few seconds, then, making up her mind, she pulled a folded piece of paper about the size of a business card from some secret pocket in her dress and handed it to him. "Go to this location at 10." With that she went off to entertain her guests.

Ethan unfolded the card and examined it. He realized it must be a map of the mansion. There was a large open space in the middle, which was the ballroom. In the hallway midway down the western wing was a red dot. "Well, that takes care of that," he said and looked at his watch. "Now I just have to kill two hours."

"You could always go back to dancing," Luther said in a mocking tone. "There's still a chance you can get someone impaled on the violinist's bow."

"Ha," Ethan responded, "Maybe you'd like to volunteer."


	3. You Scratch My Back

At precisely 10pm Ethan was at the location indicated on the card. Luther had retreated to the car to provide remote backup should anything go wrong.

There was a man waiting, Ethan assumed, for him. He was short and thin and dressed in a well-cut suit that looked like a butler's uniform. The butler motioned for Ethan to put his arms out and proceeded to carefully pat him down. His nimble fingers felt over every inch of Ethan's body. He even found the slender knife hidden in the seam of his jacket. After the pat down the butler walked off down the hallway and Ethan followed him. He stopped at a door near the end and knocked.

"Come in," came madam Fraser's voice from inside. The butler opened the door and motioned Ethan in.

Irene looked at Ethan and smiled. "Thank you, Marcell," she said, turning her attention to the butler. "And please remember we are not to be disturbed under any circumstances." Marcell nodded and backed out closing the door behind him. Ethan felt that the last remark was said more for his benefit than for Marcell.

He studied the room. It was large and spacious. Along the left wall there was a wardrobe, a half-closed door that revealed a bathroom, a painting hanging on the wall and a table with four chairs in the corner by the window. Along the right wall was a large carved wooden cabinet, a small table with several bottles and glasses and a mini fridge underneath, then the bed with an elaborate carved wooden headboard featuring vertical bars. The window was covered with heavy curtains with a dark-coloured floral pattern.

His attention then shifted to his host. She was standing by the drinks table. She had changed into a light silky robe. The only other thing she wore was panties, visible through the robe along with her naked breasts. She was poised and confident, completely at ease. She gestured towards him with a glass in her hand and asked, "Would you like a drink Mr Cooper?"

"No. Thank you," he replied.

She was studying him and for a moment her expression made him feel like a gazelle being stalked by a lioness. He felt a chill in the pit of his stomach, but the moment passed quickly and her face recomposed into a mask of polite interest. He put on his most charming smile and mentally braced himself for the game of cat and mouse that was sure to ensue.

She didn't waste any time with pleasantries and got right to the point. "Mr Cooper, what brings you here tonight? Something tells me it's not the shrimp cocktails and the tango."

He did not expect her directness, but he rallied and responded in kind. "I came to talk to you about Martin Lasseter. A researcher that your company is sponsoring."

A shadow passed over her face. "Was sponsoring," she said with a heavy undertone, which he thought was understandable considering what a setback his death must have caused to one of her major investments.

"What was Dr. Lasseter working on?" he asked.

"You don't need me to tell you that. He published a paper last year. I know as much as was written in that paper." Her tone was deliberately casual and he was sure that she was not telling him everything.

"Yes, I have read the paper. But what about the progress he has made since? It has been almost a year."

"I didn't keep track of his every move," she said with a shrug, "He only reported to us when he had significant results. That was our agreement."

"So, you have no idea what he has been doing for the past year?" It was more of a statement than a question, but his tone implied that he wasn't really buying it.

"No, unfortunately that has all been lost," she said ignoring his tone. "We couldn't recover much from his lab. His booby traps very thoroughly destroyed everything. And he worked alone." She looked at Ethan pointedly and said with finality. "His research died with him."

"The loss of this investment must have been quite a loss for your company," Ethan said sympathetically, backing off of his questioning.

Her expression changed, a sadness, and he thought longing, settled on her face. Finally, she spoke quietly, almost melancholy. "The real loss here is Martin... He was a very special man." Her lips curled in a wan smile. "I should know, I deal with men all day. It is so rare to find a real gentleman." She looked at Ethan and her gaze sent chills down his spine. Him, the cold, hard IMF agent. He read pain there, obviously Lasseter was much more than an investment to her, and longing ... and a challenge? Could he be that real gentleman?

Given the conversation so far this sudden show of emotion caught Ethan completely off guard and he didn't know what to say. After what seemed like minutes, but was likely just seconds, she turned away and picked up a bottle to refill her glass. "It is hard to find a man who respects me for all that I am," she said it as if to herself, but loud enough for Ethan to hear. "A man who can make me feel like a woman." Her voice was quiet, but there was intensity in the statement, and now he was sure it was a challenge.

He looked at her back as she busied herself with the bottles. She took her time. Her body language, the line of her neck, the curve of her waist, it was all inviting him to meet her challenge. He slipped off his shoes and noiselessly came up behind her.

He put his hands on her shoulders and noted her slight tensing at the surprise, then relaxing. His head was right next to hers his breath hot on her cheek. He ran his hands down her arms, taking the glass and bottle from her hands and placing them on the table. She put her hands on the edge of the table and let him continue. He pulled the robe down to reveal her shoulders and ran his hand gently from her collarbone and along her shoulder and arm. He pushed aside her hair and began kissing her neck and shoulders. He bit down at the base of her neck, getting a gasp out of her.

Just then a voice in his ear broke into his concentration. "Hey man, what's going on? I've heard nothing but breathing for the last five minutes." Ethan had forgotten all about his backup. "Please excuse me for one moment," he said to Irene and disappeared into the bathroom.

He closed the door behind him and whispered sharply, reaching for his ear. "I will take the mission from here. Meet me at the safehouse in the morning."

"What are you doing, man?" Luther tried to sound indignant, but he knew there was little point in arguing with Ethan.

"Playing a hunch," replied Ethan and did not wait to hear the response. He removed the earpiece and flushed it.

Irene was waiting for him on the bed. He joined her. They were in the heat of things when Irene reached up and grabbed the bars of the headboard. Seeing an opportunity, Ethan leaned forward and pressed her down with his body, then tied her wrists to the bars with his tie, which he had left on the nightstand next to the bed. She did not resist and when he came met her eyes again she was smiling. "Kinky," was all she said.

When they had finished he went to the bathroom to clean himself off. When he emerged she hadn't moved. As he approached the bed she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Time to get back to the mission he thought, reluctantly. She was looking at him expectantly, almost like she knew why he was here.

"Just before his death Lasseter sent you a message," he stated. He was standing by the bed looking at her, all play gone from his eyes.

Her expression didn't change as she studied him. "How does my private correspondence concern you?" She did not say it explicitly, but her tone implied that she did not approve of this invasion of privacy.

"It was recovered from his phone," he said, addressing her unspoken accusation. "Barbara, we'll meet again," he quoted the message, then leaned over her, his face inches away from hers. "Who is Barbara and what did this mean?"

She matched his serious expression, holding his eyes, then cracked up and looked away laughing. "Oh, dear Ethan," she said jovially.

He couldn't hold back a twitch of his mouth, which he was sure she had noticed. "It's Ian," he said, but the conviction wasn't quite there.

"Please Agent Hunt, you can drop the charade now." She punctuated her statement with a reproachful look. "I know who you are and why you're here." He stood up, still keeping his eyes on her. "I'm still not sure how you plan to get me to talk. Assuming the seduction doesn't work, which by the way, you did really well, I guess you would have to resort to violence. Oh dear, I suppose I shouldn't have so carelessly left that knife on the table."

Her tone was unnerving. His spine chilled at the way she had read his mind and the matter-of-fact way she said it. She was so sure of herself, mocking him. He felt the anger rising. He was the one in control here. She was tied to the bed, she had no power over him. He grabbed the knife, jumped on top of her and pressed it against her cheek, just short of drawing blood.

Her lips curled into a pout. "Please, Mr Hunt. Surely, you wouldn't want to blemish such perfection. You know, I work hard at it." She sounded like a wounded puppy, but in a sarcastic way.

"Tell me what the message is about." He said it in an even voice, but with all the heavy subtext that he was so good at that made most people buckle at the knees and obey him immediately. She seemed unfazed.

"He left something for me. The message told me where to find it."

"The prototype," he said, mostly to himself.

"Ahh, so they know about the prototype," Irene said.

"They?" He took away the knife and sat up, still on top of her.

"Whoever sent you here. Probably the same people that broke into Martin's lab," she explained. "I know they got some data before he interrupted them, but I don't know what it was."

Ethan looked up to process what he had just heard. Irene obviously knew a lot more about Lasseter's work than she had let on and he was building a picture of her relationship with the scientist, which he was pretty sure was a lot more than purely professional.

"So, they want the prototype," she interrupted his thoughts.

He looked down at her. "Yes, they have one of our agents and will trade him for the prototype."

"I see," she said with an understanding nod. "You're in luck. I have what you want, what they want." She met his eyes. "And I am willing to give it to you if you do something for me first."

He had no idea how to respond. She had this way of keeping him off balance. He studied her for a moment, she was looking at him expectantly, and finally said, "What is it?"

"Please go look in that cabinet." She turned her head and indicated the object with her eyes.

His eyes flicked to the cabinet, then back to her. She motioned again with her head. He got up, placing the knife back on the table, and walked over to the cabinet. He pulled open the doors and stood back. The sight that greeted him was something that he would never have thought of. Inside was an assortment of BDSM gear. He looked at Irene, who was just lying there looking at the ceiling, then back to the cabinet. His mind raced trying to make sense of the situation.

"I will make you a deal, Mr Hunt," she broke into his thoughts, "You give me what I want... what I need, and I will give you what _you_ need." He just stared at her. "I want pleasure, Mr Hunt, and I know you can give it to me."

"I..." he began.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Just do what you feel. I'll let you know if it's not good."

He considered the options and decided this might not be so bad. This was perhaps the strangest thing he had had to do for a mission, but by far not the most difficult. He picked up something and asked her, "What is this?"

She looked over and smiled, knowing that he was up for it. She told him her safeword, which was 'square', and he began, at first tentatively, then gaining more confidence. He seemed to be doing well, judging by the sounds coming from Irene, despite never having done anything like this before.

When Irene was fully satisfied he stood next to the bed looking at her. Once more he found himself irresistibly attracted to her. No other woman had this effect on him before. Meiko was fun, but this lady was something else. She got into his very soul and trampled about like she owned the place.

He remembered that he had a mission to accomplish, so he pushed his feelings aside and focused on his goal. "Now, where is the prototype?" he demanded.

She looked a little surprised, like it was rude of him to ask about that at a time like this. Then she looked at the ceiling again and said, "It's in my safe."

"Where is the safe?"

"Behind the painting."

There was only one painting in the room and he walked towards it. "Press the lower left corner," she added. He did so and the painting slid up to reveal a metal door with a dial, a small pad that glowed blue and a tiny camera.

He turned to her. "You don't take any chances do you?" She smiled, but said nothing. "A code, a fingerprint and a retinal scan."

"In my position one has to be careful." She looked over and found him staring at her, slight frustration showing.

"You're not thinking of cutting off my finger and plucking out my eye," she said innocently, and her lips curled into a pout.

"I wish," he said as he got on top of her, holding her down with his weight and leaning forward to work on the restraints holding her wrists to the headboard. Far too late he saw something flash in her hand and then he felt a prick on the inside of his wrist.

"Oh, shit," he said, not needing to guess at what just happened. He sat up desperately trying to come up with something he could do. He looked down at his hands and noticed his vision blurring. He saw the key he was holding, which was to unlock the restraints, and with the last of his consciousness he threw it across the room, then toppled over on top of her.


	4. I'll Scratch Yours

Ethan slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and focused on a pair of bare feet. He followed them up to see Irene sitting on the bed smiling at him. She was wearing her robe open and nothing else underneath. His clothes were neatly folded on the bed.

"Welcome back, Ethan," she said, smiling.

He tried to move, but found it difficult. He was sitting on a wooden chair. His feet were tied to the legs with ropes and his hands were shackled behind him and tied to the chair.

"You're heavier than you look," she said, mock-complaining. The memory of the events before he passed out made their way into his consciousness along with the implication of what she said. He looked her up and down, trying to figure out if she really would have the strength to drag him into this chair herself.

"The wonders of pulleys," she said, reading his thoughts. He looked up and saw that there were a bunch of hooks in the ceiling. He hadn't paid them much attention before, but given recent revelations he could imagine what they might be for.

Then he remembered something else. "How did you..." he started.

"I must admit that was clever throwing the key like that. It could have almost worked ... but this room holds many secrets. I try to be prepared for any eventualities that I can think of."

A hint of amazement and admiration flickered across Ethan's face. She smiled pleased at the reaction.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening so far. I am sorry it came to this," she paused, looking him over, "Actually, no, I'm not." Her look made him feel like a piece of meat on the butcher's table. He felt a little objectified and shifted uncomfortably despite himself. This did not escape her and her lips curled into a smile. "It seems the tables have turned, Mr Hunt."

He forced himself to relax so that he could think. He composed his face into neutrality, but did not take his eyes off her.

"You're thinking what a terrible, dishonest temptress I am," she said, sounding hurt, but in a mocking way. He remained silent. "Look at you, sitting there, senses on high alert, looking for any opportunity to escape." Her ability to read his mind startled him again, but he kept from showing it.

"Relax, dear Ethan, you will get what you came for."

She stood up and began pacing around him. "Do you know what Martin's research was really about?" She was serious now. He shook his head. He had just been told to retrieve a prototype, he had no idea what it did.

"He called it the Quantum Amplification Resonator Circuit, or QUARC," she explained. "The key words here are amplification and resonator. The device amplifies a signal and causes resonance to maintain the amplification. It generates a high power electric field, when stimulated with a low power light source. The electric field can be used to drive motors, power computers, anything that requires energy. Do you realize the implications of this, Mr Hunt?" She stopped in front of him, brought her face level with his and looked straight in his eyes. He was getting an idea, but wasn't sure yet. "Free energy," she said not waiting for him. She stood up and continued pacing and gesturing in the air. "That's impossible!," she quoted mockingly, "Conservation of energy and all that." She stopped. "But it's true, he did it. As far as I understand the device uses quantum tunneling to transfer energy between dimensions, so the net energy in the universe remains the same while this extra energy is trapped here." She stopped to gauge his reaction. His expression was one of amazement and she knew he understood what this meant. She continued, "The most recent prototype had a gain of 10 to the 5. That means that you could use a single AA battery to power an entire household for two days. Of course, you and I both know that's not where the technology will be applied first. This is why Martin kept it secret." She frowned. "And he was right to," she said sadly.

Ethan followed her with his eyes as she sat down on the bed. "Now, where does this leave us." It was a rhetorical question, so he just looked at her and said nothing. "If we were to give the prototype to... them, what would they do with it." She looked at him, this time expecting a response.

"I wouldn't let them keep it. Not long enough anyway." The confidence came easily to his words. He had dealt with such situations before.

She smiled, "Of course not. IMF's golden boy wouldn't let the bad guys win." She looked him over. "He will come out on top of any situation... current circumstances notwithstanding," she added with a grin. He grinned back and shrugged - he's gotten out of worse before.

Irene became serious again. "I will trust you, Mr Hunt, but only because I want these people found and I want them to pay." The way she said it made Ethan glad that he wasn't the one she was after. "I know you will do your best not to let them get away with this, and I will do what I can to help."

She picked up a box that had been sitting on the bed. "Martin left me two prototypes. I don't know if they're aware of the existence of the two, they may just know about the second one. This," she opened the box and took out an object, "is the first one." The object was about the size of a rubik's cube and looked like a three dimensional circuit board. "This prototype is unstable. When it is stimulated the field builds for a certain time, depending on the power of the stimulation source, and then it goes to zero for the same amount of time. At that point it emits a very high power electromagnetic pulse. The kind of pulse that causes damage to electrical equipment." She looked at him meaningfully, and he nodded, understanding. She put the object back in the box and placed it on top of his clothes.

"I will give you this prototype," she said holding his eyes. "I hope you will let me know what happens."

He nodded. "So, I can go now," he said hopefully and smiled.

She chuckled, stood up and ran her hand along his jaw, cupping his chin. "I'm not quite done with you yet." She sat on his lap facing him, her legs on either side. She took his face in her hands. "You gave me such great pleasure, dear Ethan. I feel I must return the favour." He knew that he shouldn't be getting excited at this thought. The sooner he completed the mission the better, but his body was having other ideas.

She made love to him one more time and he knew this was a night he would remember for some time.

When she was done she picked up a phone from the table and pressed some buttons. "It appears my security system is experiencing some problems." She went over to him, gave him one last kiss on the cheek and pressed a small key into his hand. She went over to the wall, pushed a hidden switch and a secret door swung open noiselessly. "You have sixty seconds to leave my property, starting...now." She pushed a button on her phone then stepped through the door without looking back as it closed behind her.

Ethan watched her go and as soon as the door was closed he quickly got to work. He freed his hands with the key and untied the ropes around his ankles. When he stood up he had to grab onto the chair to keep himself from falling as his legs were still a little shaky. He got dressed in a hurry, found a towel and tied the box to his waist - he would need both his hands free. He opened the window, assessed the height, then he swung over, hung off the ledge for a second and let go.

He landed softly and then sprinted as fast as he could for the wall. He located a jutting section where he was able to climb up by holding on either side consecutively with his hands and his feet. At the top of the wall he hesitated for a second and gingerly touched the electric wire to make sure it was disabled. There was just enough space for him to squeeze through past the bottom wire.

Before he jumped down on the other side of the wall he looked back at the house. He saw a figure standing in the window next to the one he had jumped from. He smiled and then jumped down on the other side of the wall, the wires coming back to life with a hum as he landed. He dusted himself off and was off to return to the safehouse.


	5. In A Flash

Ethan walked up to the warehouse entrance. He had noted two guards walking the perimeter trying to look inconspicuous and there were two more at the door. One of them took the small case that he was carrying. The other one motioned for him to raise his arms and proceeded to search him. Ethan watched nonchalantly as the guard took his phone out of his pocket and inspected it carefully. When he looked at Ethan questioningly he just shrugged. The guard handed the phone to his colleague, who walked inside with it and the case, Ethan following.

He found himself inside a large warehouse. There was a single light on, hanging from the high ceiling, and strange shadows played on the walls and the boxes that were arranged in the back. A space had been cleared among the stacks and there was a table at the center of it holding several pieces of electrical equipment. There were at least a dozen men standing around the room, some of them holding guns, the rest likely carrying concealed weapons.

Ethan recognized Colin Roberts standing by the table. Roberts wasn't much taller than Ethan, and he had the same intensity in his dark eyes. A groomed padlock beard adorning his square features and his short black hair was carefully combed back. He wore a tailored grey suit.

The guard handed Roberts the case and Ethan's phone. Ethan stood a few feet from the table trying to watch the whole room while keeping his eyes on the case. Roberts put the case on the table then inspected the phone, turning it around in his hands. He looked at Ethan, who stated plainly, "It's just a phone."

Roberts put the phone down on the table and turned his attention to the case. He took the small cube out and examined it.

"This is Lasseter's prototype?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"Where's my agent?" Ethan snapped back.

"Oh, yes, of course," Roberts' said as if the thought had completely slipped his mind. "Bring him out," he beckoned to a guard standing next to a pile of boxes on the other side of the room. The guard went behind the boxes and came back with another guard, the two of them dragging Mark between them.

Mark Anderson was a rookie, he had only been in the field for a year. He had a few successful missions under his belt, including impressive performances in combat situations, but getting captured was not doing good things for his record.

Mark was restrained in the manner of maximum security prisoners. There was a chain around his waist, his hands cuffed to it and a chain running down to his feet, which were also chained together so he could only take small steps. He appeared unhurt. His eyes met Ethan's and he smiled sheepishly.

Ethan sighed inwardly. He had a feeling that they would have to make their way out by force. Roberts probably had no intention of letting them go, and this would become a certainty after he found out the prototype didn't work quite right. Ethan didn't look forward to babysitting this rookie while dealing with all the guards.

Roberts had placed the prototype on the table and a short, skinny man with glasses and ruffled white hair was lining up a laser with it. He reminded Ethan of a professor who had taught him mathematics in college.

Once everything was arranged to the professor's satisfaction he flipped a switch and the laser illuminated a spot in the center of the prototype. Once the light hit the prototype an instrument that had been showing a series of illuminated zeros began to count up. Ethan began to count the time in his head. One... two... After a few seconds the digits on the instrument stopped changing.

"Ten watts," the professor said, "That's an amplification of ten thousand times."

Roberts nodded. "Good." He smiled at Ethan. "Looks like you have kept up your side of the agreement."

"Let my agent go," Ethan demanded. Nineteen... twenty...

Roberts scoffed. "Don't be in such a hurry. The night is young."

Ethan was not in the mood for small talk, so he just shrugged. Thirty two... thirty three... Just then he noticed the reading on the instrument begin to decrease. He started counting down. The professor noticed this too and called Roberts' attention to it. While they were all looking at the table Ethan locked eyes with Mark and mouthed, "Close your eyes, on my mark." The other agent acknowledged with a slight nod. Eighteen... seventeen...

Roberts turned to Ethan, furious. "What is going on, here?" he demanded.

"It's just warming up," Ethan said calmly. "It'll go back up in a few seconds. Just watch." Five... four... Roberts turned back towards the table. Ethan checked that his phone was still next to the prototype, then looked straight at Mark. Two... one... He mouthed the last two numbers, then screwed his eyes shut and raised his hands to cover them. His eyelids turned a deep red for a few seconds. He heard the screams from a dozen men. Then everything went black again. He opened his eyes and saw all the guards, including Roberts and the professor, clutching at their faces. He ran straight towards Mark and heaved him over his shoulder without stopping. He ran between two large stacks of boxes and began working on Mark's restraints with a pin that he pulled out of his sleeve. He knew he had limited time before their enemies would regain their vision.

In five seconds Mark's hands were free. Ethan turned his attention to Mark's feet when a guard ran by from the back of the warehouse. The guard doubled back, realizing what he had seen and started to bring up his gun, but Ethan moved fast and before the guard could shoot he was disarmed and knocked out by an elbow to the temple. Ethan looked back to find that Mark had taken care of the leg restraints himself.

Mark had one knee still on the ground when Ethan's expression alerted him to a presence behind him. He turned around swinging and caught the guard in the groin. As the guard doubled over Mark relieved him of his gun and knocked him out with a swift uppercut to the jaw. Ethan nodded approvingly, his initial impression of the young agent improving.

"Must have been looking away," Ethan muttered, referring to the guard. He pushed a button on his watch. "Mobile, evac, back door," he said into it.

"Roger that," came the reply.

Ethan looked at Mark who nodded and, after a careful look around the boxes, stepped out into the space between the stacks. They moved quickly toward the back of the warehouse, Mark leading, Ethan following, walking half backwards to defend against the rest of the guards who must have recovered their vision by now.

They were halfway to the back when the first guards emerged. Ethan opened fire and they scattered behind the stacks. Ethan kept firing, hitting the sides of boxes and sending splinters of broken wood flying. When he ran out of ammo he pulled Mark around and took the front. Mark continued firing to keep the guards off their back. They were almost at the back of the warehouse when Mark's ammo ran out too. They ducked behind the last two stacks of boxes. Mark peeked around the side to locate the door and was greeted with a shot that narrowly missed him, hitting the palette next to his face. Slivers of wood exploded scratching his cheek. He quickly ducked back.

"There's still a guard there," he said to Ethan.

"You distract him from there," Ethan whispered. "I'll go around." Mark nodded and slowly moved the gun so that it would appear to the guard. Ethan went to the other side of the stack as soon as he heard the shot he sprinted up to the guard, jumping up and planting both feet in his chest before he could turn the gun on Ethan. The guard dropped and while he was trying to get his breath back Ethan and Declan burst through the door.

They saw the van drive up, Luther's face greeting them as the side door slid open. They ran right for it. Then Luther was pulling out his gun and aiming toward them. A thought flashed through Ethan's mind as to why Luther was pulling a gun on him, but then he heard the shots and the screams behind him. He jumped into the van and rolled out of the way for Mark who was right on his heels. As soon as they were both inside the van drove off with a squeal of tires, Luther firing last shots at their pursuers.


	6. Dinner Is Served

Serena walked the corridor to her front door humming to herself. There was a pleasant smell of cooking and she thought the neighbours must be making something really good for dinner. She unlocked her front door and stepped inside. The smell seemed to get stronger, but she didn't pay much attention, attributing it to the wacky ventilation system in this building. She was in a good mood. Her work had gone well today and she looked forward to a relaxing evening. She started singing as she took off her coat and hung up her purse by the door.

"'Cause I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride..." She rounded the corner to the kitchen. "And I'm wanted waaanteeed..." and froze, the sudden lump in her throat choking off the words. Leaning on the counter across from her was a man. He was smirking. For a second she was embarrassed that someone had heard her singing. Then the realization of a potential threat shot through her body, knotting up her stomach with the adrenaline rush.

"Hello Serena," the man said in a friendly voice. His black hair framed a really good looking face and a charming smile. He was wearing jeans and a tight black t-shirt that showed off a fit body.

Despite her surprise Serena couldn't help noticing that something was wrong in the kitchen. The spices were all mixed up and the dishes had been washed and arranged in completely the wrong way on the drying rack. Her mind raced trying to decide what to do. Her first instinct was to put more distance between herself and the stranger to give herself a better chance. She took a step back.

"Please don't try to run," he said, still friendly, "I'm pretty sure I'm faster than you." He smiled showing off a perfect set of teeth.

She froze again. She knew he was right, speed wasn't her forte. She couldn't come up with any options right now, so she continued watching him and assessing the situation.

"I made dinner," he said, "Care to join me?" He walked to the stove and opened the oven to check on the contents. Now she realized that the cooking smell was actually coming from her kitchen. This explained why the spices had been moved around.

She noticed the pan she had left on top of the stove from her breakfast and an idea formed in her head. She took the two steps to the stove, grabbed the pan with both hands and swung it across as hard as she could, aiming for the man's head. But he was too fast. He ducked and his hand came up, grabbed her left wrist as it swung past, turned it so her palm was facing up, causing her to bend forward. He brought his other hand to her elbow, applying even pressure. She gasped with pain, dropped the pan and by habit tapped her shoulder with her other hand. If she was in her ju-jitsu class this would mean stop, but the pressure remained steady. He had her hand tight in his grip against his body and she knew he could easily break her arm if she moved.

"Serena, please, I just want to talk," he said gently. "I am going to let go now. Please don't try to attack me again."

She nodded. He eased off the pressure and let go of her hand as she straightened up, holding her elbow. They looked at each other. He was relaxed, studying her, waiting for her next move. She was uncertain, still not completely sure what to make of him.

"Why don't you have a seat," he motioned towards the dining area, "and I will bring the food."

She followed his hand and only now noticed that the dining table was elegantly set for two, complete with candles. She felt another twinge of annoyance at the thought of someone going through her things. She bit her lip and decided that now was not the time to bring this up.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said and looked at him. He nodded.

She walked backwards still eyeing him until she turned the corner. The last she saw was him picking up the pan and she heard him put it down on the stove.

On the way to the bathroom she noticed her purse hanging by the door and had an idea. She looked behind her to make sure he wasn't there and took her phone out. She was looking at it and deciding what number to call when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She tensed and her stomach tightened up again. Another hand reached around and took the phone. She felt the heat of his body behind her and his breath on her ear.

"Let's just keep this between you and me," he said quietly. When he moved away she just walked to the bathroom without looking back. She closed the door behind her and leaned on the counter, trying to relax and slow down her breathing. She felt helpless against this guy who could so easily disable her and walked like a cat. What could she do but go along with him. She surveyed the bathroom, but no further ideas came to her. He did say he just wanted to talk. Maybe he meant it, maybe it would be all right. A part of her, a very small part that hadn't come up in years, was actually curious and excited about what was happening. Maybe it would be an interesting adventure. This was barely noticeable among the other parts that were highly aversive to any risk-taking, but it was there.

When her heart slowed down she did her business and washed her hands slowly, regaining her composure. When she opened the door she was partly surprised that he wasn't there. She found him sitting at the head of the dining table, waiting for her. "Please, sit," he smiled and motioned to the chair across the corner from him.

She sat down and surveyed the table. There was a casserole dish with something that she didn't immediately recognize, greek salad with feta cheese and a glass of water for her. There was that uncomfortable feeling again as she wondered how this stranger knew that greek salad was her favourite and that she only drank water. The feeling grew as he served her from the casserole and a realization dawned on her.

"Have you been going through my browsing history?" she asked suspiciously, thinking of the recipes she had been looking up lately. This looked like the one she had bought the ingredients for the previous day.

He looked at her like he was surprised she would ask this. "Yes, of course," he said matter-of-factly.

"Of course?" she said indignantly.

"It was research."

"Research," she said flatly.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded as he served food on his own plate.

She was annoyed at the breach of her privacy, but something about his demeanor kept her anger in the background.

"What else have you found out in your research?"

He looked at her for a moment, then said, "You're dedicated to your work and you're good at what you do. But it's not your life. You also train in martial arts. You like to cook." He smiled. "You like to sing, but only when you don't think anyone is listening." Her cheeks flushed. "Don't quit your day job," he said jokingly and she shot him a sarcastic hurt look.

"Interesting taste in fanfiction, by the way," he said, his body almost imperceptibly shifting into a defensive pose and eyeing her cautiously.

Serena's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Nobody was supposed to know about that.

"Aragorn and Legolas?" he said smiling slyly.

She looked at him in shock for a few moments, then regained her composure.

"I like Lord of the Rings," she said as aloof as she could manage.

"Me too," he said, his tone implied that this did not explain anything.

"What does my taste in fan fiction have to do with anything?" she said, not hiding her annoyance.

"Nothing, it's just a part of the picture."

She had nothing to say to that and just stared at him.

"Look, Serena," he leaned back and locked her with an intense gaze. "I'm a professional. And I know about discretion. I'm the only one who has seen this and it will stay between us." Serena found herself caught up in his gaze, his tone willing her to believe him. He leaned forward and took her hand in his. She didn't often have physical contact with anyone and was acutely aware of his hand burning on hers. She felt her body reacting on some primal level to his touch.

"I needed to get to know you," he said softly, still holding her eyes, "Before deciding if I could ask you for what I need."

Finally he's getting to the point, she thought and waited for him to continue. He studied her for a moment, then withdrew and said, "Let's finish our dinner." All the intensity was gone and he was back to his relaxed, smiling self.

"How was ju-jitsu class today," he asked conversationally.

It took her a moment to follow.

"It was good," she said finally. "Good."

"Any new techniques?'

"Yes, a couple," she said, more relaxed and confident now. "Maybe I can show you later," she said with a sly smile.

"Sure," he smiled back.

"So, um..." she began, "oh, you haven't told me your name."

"It's Ethan."

"So, Ethan, how long have you been doing martial arts?"

"About twenty years."

"Wow, that's a long time," she said amazed. It was more than half her life.

"Yes, and I also get a lot more practice than you."

She smiled, "Yeah, I could tell you've had a lot of practice."

They spent the rest of dinner talking about different styles of martial arts and their favourite martial arts movies. Serena found herself relaxing and enjoying his company. When they finished Ethan insisted on clearing the dishes.


	7. Person Of Interest

After dinner Ethan went to the living room and sat down on the armchair. He invited Serena to join him. She sat down on the couch. Suddenly she felt nervous. She had no idea what he wanted, but she had a feeling it wasn't anything good.

"Serena, I spoke with Irene Fraser today," he began in a serious voice. Serena's apprehension increased and a coldness settled in the pit of her stomach. She really liked her job and didn't want to lose it. At the same time she felt that this must be about more than just her job. She kept her face blank and waited for him to continue.

"You asked for a six month leave."

Serena wondered why this would involve Irene. She had only talked to her manager about taking a leave and she was pretty sure that the CEO of the company wouldn't need to be involved with details like this. She had met Irene a few times at Martin's lab. Irene would come and pick up Martin for lunch. They seemed to be good friends and she thought she detected a special connection there. She realized that Ethan was waiting for her to speak.

"Yes, I did," she said levelly, not volunteering any further information.

"Why?"

"Personal reasons," she said curtly.

He sighed. "Please just tell me." There was some frustration in his voice. "Don't worry this isn't about your job."

"Why should I tell you?" She was getting frustrated herself.

He studied her for a moment. "Does it have something to do with the work you did for Martin Lasseter?"

She stiffened and saw that he noticed it. Her uneasiness increased as she remembered Martin. They had said it had been an accident, but somehow she didn't really believe that.

"I think you may be getting yourself into something that you don't completely understand," Ethan said gently. She looked at him and said nothing.

"Tell me why you applied for the leave," he said insistently, "I need to know all the details."

Serena took a deep breath and let it out, considering exactly what to tell him. "I've been offered a job, a temporary contract," she said. He was watching her expectantly. "I was contacted by some people from a company called Ariel Nano. They specialize in nanoscale fabrication and quantum computers. They have a website." She waved her hand in the direction of her computer. "You can check it out."

He nodded. "I've seen it."

She was surprised for a second, then remembered their earlier conversation about her browsing history. "Right," she said, with all the reproach she could put behind one word. He ignored it.

"Anyway," she continued, "I had an interview with them a few days ago and they offered me this contract."

"What exactly do they want you to do?"

She hesitated.

"Did it have to do with Lasseter's work?"

"Yes," she sighed, "I don't know... they said that they prefer that people don't find out about this yet."

Ethan studied her for a moment, then began, "They have one of Lasseter's prototypes, but no specifications," he paused to assess her reaction. She was waiting for him to say more. "They want to try to reproduce the prototype and figure out how it works." She nodded. "There is one more problem," he continued. "The prototype is not stable. Tell me, do they know about the second one?"

Serena looked at him, surprised that he wouldn't already know this as he seemed to know everything. "Yes," she said. "They asked me how much I remember about what changed between them." She sighed. "I don't know if I could reproduce it just from memory, I mean the second one. But they said that they have some genius quantum physicists who should be able to help."

Ethan nodded. "What did they say about how they got the prototype?"

"Martin sent it to them. Along with some of the experimental data. He wanted them to study it and confirm his results."

"I thought he didn't trust anyone with this research."

"Yeah, I know, I mean when I did the work for him it was all on a computer in his lab and I wasn't to take any information in any format out of the lab. He was keeping it really tight. But they said that one of their researchers was an old friend and partner of Martin's. I guess he trusted them."

"Right," Ethan said, and she thought she detected a reproach, maybe that she was so gullible as to believe everything they told her. In retrospect it did seem implausible that Martin would do this.

"I had no reason not to believe them," she said defensively. "They were very convincing. And they did have the prototype."

"They showed it to you?" he asked, more interested in that than what she believed.

She nodded.

"Was it the real thing?"

"Yes, of course, I think I can recognize my work."

Ethan said nothing and watched her thoughtfully. She picked up her glass and took a drink. Finally he asked, "Are you going to take the job?"

"I don't know. I'm still deciding. It's at some remote facility and I would have to take an overnight train there and back every week. I'm not particularly looking forward to being away from home. And I also want to still have my current job when this is done, so I'm waiting to hear about the leave."

"If the leave was all taken care of would you do it?"

"I was seriously considering it. It's not the ideal work arrangement, but they did offer me a lot of money and it would only be for six months." She sighed. "But now you're making me question it. I think they may not have been entirely honest with me."

Ethan laughed. "Yes, they may not have been entirely honest," he said, making it sound like she had just made the understatement of the century.

Then he was serious. "Serena, you have to take this job."

She was taken aback. Being told she had to made her not want to do it even more. She did not voice these thoughts as she watched Ethan take a laptop out of a case that she had previously noticed next to the couch. He put the laptop on the coffee table so that they could both see it. It was displaying a photograph of a man walking down the street obviously taken from a covert location.

"Do you recognize this man?" he asked.

Serena looked carefully at the image. She shook her head, then something caught her eye.

"That guy," she pointed to another man standing behind the one in question. "He looks familiar. Do you have a better photo of him?"

Ethan cycled through several shots taken consecutively as the men moved around. He stopped on one where the man Serena had pointed out was facing the camera more directly.

"I think that's him. One of the people who interviewed me." She looked at Ethan questioningly.

"This," he said pointing to the first man who seemed to be the boss, "is Colin Roberts. He is … a person of interest."

"Person of interest," she repeated. "What are you FBI or something?"

"Or something," he said vaguely, "More like CIA."

"_Like_ CIA?"

"Yeah. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." After an awkward pause, where she was thinking that he sounded entirely too serious, they both laughed, except hers was more of a nervous chuckle. She didn't like where this was going. She had always had this fear of someday being involved with some kind of law enforcement. The thought that it might be actually happening now sent chills down her spine.

"If I work for them would that make me a person of interest?"

He looked at her sympathetically. "You already are," he said gently.

She leaned back with a pained expression. "Why me?" she said to no one in particular. "What did I do to have creepy people offering me way too much money and someone from "like" the CIA breaking into my house and making me dinner." She closed her eyes, trying to calm down the waves of emotion sweeping over her. "What was so special about Martin's research?" It was a rhetorical question, but she heard Ethan say, "You mean you don't know?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. The incredulity she had heard in his voice was showing clearly on his face. She sat up, looking at Ethan intently. "No," she said carefully, "Martin never told me."

Ethan was watching her, clearly trying to decide what to do with this unbelievable revelation.

"But you made his prototypes," he said disbelievingly.

"I don't need to know what something does in order to make it," she said it as if it was obvious, which to her it was. "They give me the specs and I figure out how to fabricate it. I mean, usually, yes they tell me what they're making. But with Martin part of the deal was that I wouldn't ask too many questions."

Ethan was still looking at her in disbelief. "His stuff, these prototypes, were very complicated," she added, "I had no idea what they might be for."

Finally, Ethan spoke. "Serena, Lasseter was working on an energy amplification device. Essentially he succeeded in producing free energy."

"That's impossible." It was her turn to be incredulous.

"I know, conservation of energy and all that," he waved his hand, "But it's true, he found a way to do it without breaking any laws of physics. I don't know exactly how it works, some kind of quantum magic, moving energy around from other dimensions. I've seen it work," he said, as if he wouldn't have believed it otherwise himself. "It's real."

Serena was watching and listening to him intently, then realizing he was completely serious she sat back the implications of this information setting off little explosions in her brain. In hindsight she remembered little things she had seen and heard and it all made sense now. She understood the reason Martin had been so secretive.

"Oh, my god," she said finally, still looking at the ceiling, "What would your person of interest do with this technology?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid."

She nodded, expecting this answer.

"Then I can't take this job. I can't help him to get it."

"No, Serena, you have to take this job."

She turned her eyes to him. He was watching her intently, completely serious.

"Even without your help, he will eventually get it," he continued, "But if you help me I will make sure that he never has a chance to use it."

She looked at him for a moment, evaluating what he said. "How would I help you?"

"Take the job. Go in there. Observe. Tell me about it."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much. We don't know much about what they're doing and we've never been able to get inside one of their facilities. They're very careful and really good at hiding. Any information we can get would go a long way." He noted the concern on her face. She wasn't buying that it was that simple. "I won't ask you to do anything that you can't handle."

She wasn't convinced that he knew what she could handle. She looked away.

"No, I can't do this," she said, "I'm no good at... well... at deception. They'll see right through me."

"Serena, there will be nothing to see. It is to be expected that you'd be nervous about starting a new job, especially away from home."

She continued looking into space, as if she didn't hear him. Her mind was busy going over the possibilities and all she could come up with was ways that this could go wrong. Ethan kneeled in front of her. She felt the heat of his hands on hers. Slowly she turned her head until their eyes met.

"Serena, you're more capable than you think," he said intently, "I know people, it's part of my job, and I know you can do this." The intensity in his eyes was willing her to believe it. "You just have to be yourself and you'll be fine."

She wanted to believe him, but it wasn't so easy. She needed some space, time to think. She pulled her hands away and stood up. The plants by the window caught her eye and she walked over to them. She busied herself cleaning up the dead leaves and watering them. When there was nothing left to do she just stood there staring. An internal battle was going on between the part of her that knew she should take the job and the part of her that really didn't want to. She knew the reasons she didn't want to were not necessarily that good, especially compared to the reasons she knew she should. Mostly she was afraid of failure, not so much of what would happen to her, and this was against the opportunity to help prevent a potentially destructive technology from falling into the wrong hands. The reward would be great, but she didn't like taking risks.

She was aware of Ethan walking up behind her. She felt the heaviness of his hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face him, but avoided his eyes. She was aware of the closeness and she thought about having his arms around her, his body pressed up against hers.

"Serena," he said it quietly, but there was a tone behind it and she couldn't help looking up. Their eyes met. He was searching her face with his probing eyes. She couldn't take it and looked away again. He put his hand gently on her face and turned her back. "Please, Serena, I need you to do this." She looked at him for a few long seconds, trying to bring up the courage to say yes. His eyes burned through her. She really wanted to make him happy, to do whatever he wanted. She nodded slightly.

Having made this decision she suddenly felt weak. She needed to be close to someone, to not be alone. Ethan seemed to sense this and he pulled her in and held her. She put her head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, enjoying his warmth.

They stood like that for a few minutes. Then she let go and went to the kitchen to pour herself more water. She felt better and more confident about her decision. She began thinking about what she needed to do to make this mission a success. Yes, she thought about it as a mission now. She had been recruited by a mysterious agent from a super secret spy agency.


	8. Night Train

A week and a half later, on a Sunday evening, Serena was at the train station. Her leave had been approved the day after her meeting with Ethan and she had immediately called to accept the job offer. They wanted her to start as soon as possible. She had to insist that they give her an extra week to prepare. She had some things at work that she couldn't just leave half done.

She had her purse and a small suitcase, with a week's worth of clothes, toiletries and some books. They had told her not to bring her laptop as they would provide her with one. She had her phone, even though Ethan had been pretty sure that it wouldn't work inside the facility. She hadn't seen Ethan since that first evening. He had said that he would contact her when it was appropriate.

When the train arrived she boarded and found her room. It was pretty nice. There was a bunk bed and a small table and two seats that folded up. When the train began moving she felt a sense of inevitability. It was really happening now. She was nervous, but a little bit excited too. She didn't like to admit it to herself, but liked the prospect of adventure.

They brought dinner to her room and afterwards she got ready for bed. She was supposed to start working soon after arriving the next morning and she needed to get some sleep. As soon as she lay down though her mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. She wondered what the place would be like, how she would be able to reproduce her work, what exactly she might observe. After tossing around for an hour she got up and decided to go for a walk to try to clear her head.

When she got back to her room her heart leapt into her throat. There was a shadowy figure in one of the seats. She could see his outline by the light coming from the window, but his face was obscured in darkness.

"Serena." She immediately recognized Ethan's voice and relaxed. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"That's the second time," she said reproachfully.

His teeth flashed in the darkness and she heard him chuckle.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm all right. I can't sleep," she said, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to give you this." He held up a small object. Serena walked over and took it from his hand. It was a USB flash drive.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"It's a flash drive. There are some photos of your last camping trip on it." Serena looked at him quizzically. "At least that's what it looks like," he continued. "There's also some hidden software. I need you to plug it into any computer once you get there. Just leave it for an hour or so."

Serena frowned, she didn't like this, after all she was supposed to just be an observer.

"Don't worry," Ethan continued, seeing her concern. "The software is completely undetectable. Our best tech wrote it."

"What does the software do?" she asked.

"It will gather information on their network and look for ways that we can connect to it from outside."

"I see. And it's undetectable?"

"Completely."

"All right, it sounds simple enough," Serena said and picked up her purse to put the drive away.

"You got some nice pictures there, beautiful views. But you know, soloing is dangerous." Was that admiration she detected in his voice?

"It's more fun that way," she replied, with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah," he said, smiling back knowingly.

"Besides, it's hard to find people willing to do the trips I want to do," she added, slight frustration showing through.

"I'm up for any trip." She looked at him, seeing the twinkle in his eye. She completely believed him, he certainly seemed like the kind of guy who was up for anything. "Maybe when this is all over we can do a trip together," he added.

"Sure," she smiled.

Ethan's expression became more serious. "Everything looks good so far, Serena. I don't think they suspect anything. They followed you to the train station, but they're not watching you now."

She nodded, looked at the floor thoughtfully. She had gotten used to the idea of people watching her while she was at the facility, but it didn't occur to her that they could be doing it on the train too. The thought filled her with dread. She sat down on the bed, her shoulders slumped, and put her head in her hands. Ethan sat down next to her and put his arm around her.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't like the idea of my every move being followed."

"Don't think about it. You're doing great."

"Yeah," she said, unconvinced. "It hasn't even really started yet."

Ethan ran his hand over her hair pushing it behind her ear. "Do you want me to stay until we get there?"

She looked up at him, hopeful. "Can you?"

"Sure," he nodded.

She smiled. "I'd like that." She stood up abruptly, took his hand and pulled him up. "Take off your clothes."

He looked confused and opened his mouth to say something.

"You can't wear street clothes in bed," she explained. His expression not changing, she realized that this explanation did not quite clear up her intentions. "Wait," she said and got her suitcase from under the bed. She pulled out a large t-shirt. "I think this should fit you."

Ethan laughed, realizing what she meant and did as she asked. He took off his clothes and stood in front of her in just his underwear. She couldn't help looking at him, admiring his body. She noted all the scars, some of them fairly recent. She reached out to touch them and hesitated. His face was impassive and he didn't try to stop her. She ran her hand over a red scar that ran along the bottom of his ribs and another one on his shoulder. She met his eyes again and he just shrugged. He didn't offer any explanation and she didn't think she should ask. She handed him the t-shirt. When he had put it on she pulled back the covers and invited him to lie down. She laid down beside him with her head on his shoulder.

"This is all I want, Ethan," she said, to make sure she wasn't giving him any more confusing signals.

He smiled and put his arms around her. With his body pressed up against hers she felt safe, at least for the moment. She was relaxed and happy and finally drifted off to sleep and when she woke up he was gone, but the memory of his touch was still with her. She hoped that they could do this again sometime as she packed up and prepared to leave the train for whatever awaited her.


	9. Unwelcome Surprise

Serena stepped into her apartment and put down her suitcase, letting out a sigh. It was good to be back home. The past week had been very loaded and she was glad to finally be able to relax. Apparently some people had other ideas. She walked into the living room just wanting to collapse on the couch and was greeted with a familiar grin.

"Hi Serena," Ethan said cheerfully. He was sitting in the armchair.

She let out a groan and proceeded to collapse on the couch.

"You don't seem happy to see me," he said. Her eyes shot daggers at him. "Well, I can see when I'm not wanted," he said getting up. "I thought we were friends." He sounded hurt. She looked at him again, her eyes softening.

"I'm sorry, Ethan, I'm just tired," she sighed. "Can this wait? Until tomorrow? I'm seeing my sister and nephew tonight." Her nephew was only ten months old and just learning to walk. She was looking forward to seeing him wobble around on his little feet.

"Of course," Ethan said. "What do you like for breakfast?"

He had this look in his eye and Serena had an idea of what he was planning.

"You know, I don't really like surprises," she said doing her best I know what you're thinking look.

"It's not going to be a surprise _now_, right?"

She sighed, knowing she couldn't win with him. "I usually just have grilled cheese. But when I have the time and the mood for it I like crepes."

"All right."

"Oh, and Ethan, I'm not a morning person. If I get woken up early on weekends I get a little crabby."

"You mean worse than now?"

She shot him another deadly look.

"All right, all right." He waved his hands defensively. "Before I go, I need the flash drive."

"Sure."

Serena gave Ethan the flash drive and he left. Finally, she got be alone and relax. Except she couldn't relax. It had been a very eventful week and she couldn't help thinking about everything that had happened and what she should tell Ethan. Maybe she shouldn't have kicked him out and gotten it over with. Oh well, too late for that. She lay on the couch for all of five minutes before she had to get up and do something to clear her head.


	10. Not A Morning Person

Serena opened her eyes, took in the familiar scene that surrounded her and smiled. She was in her own bed, the room was dimly lit by the bright rays shining in around her dark curtains. She looked over at the clock, it was almost 11. This was her ideal Sunday morning. She got up and pulled the curtains then lay down for a while longer enjoying the sunshine.

Her nose picked up a pleasant smell. This time she knew it was coming from her kitchen and not the neighbours. She was actually happy that Ethan was here. She could tell him all about her strange new workplace. She really wanted to talk to someone about it. Last night she hadn't wanted to bother her sister with too many details and besides she had been too busy playing with her nephew anyway. He was making attempts to stand on his own and it was too cute.

Finally, she got tired of lying around and decided to get up. She washed her face and got dressed before venturing out. She found Ethan sitting at the dining table working on his laptop. As she came in he closed the computer and smiled at her.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

"Morning."

"You really aren't a morning person, are you," he said it like he hadn't really believed it before.

"I told you," she replied. "I usually mean it when I say things."

She noted the stack of crepes and assorted toppings arranged on the table. There was a plate set out for her and another one on Ethan's side. It looked like he had already eaten.

"How long have you been here?" she asked feeling a slight twinge of guilt at making him wait. But it was only slight, she was having a really good morning and she wouldn't have wanted to rush it.

Ethan looked at his watch. "About three hours."

"Wow. You must be one of those morning people," she said, putting an emphasis on morning like it was a dirty word.

"Must be," he smiled.

Serena sat down on the other side of the table.

"I'm afraid the crepes have gotten cold," Ethan said, partly apologetic, partly accusing.

"That's ok," she said, "I can always microwave them." She looked up at him. "Thank you for making breakfast. It looks really good."

Ethan smiled and nodded.

Serena rolled up a couple of crepes with ham and cheese and took them to the kitchen to heat them up. She liked the melted cheese.

"What were you doing just now?" she asked, coming back to the table.

"Writing reports, doing some research," he replied vaguely.

"You realize it's Sunday."

"I don't exactly have a nine to five job."

"Yeah, it seems like it's more 24/7."

"I do get down time," he said defensively. "There's a lot of waiting around."

"Which you like to fill with report writing and research."

"There wasn't much else to do this time."

"Uh huh," Serena said not believing a word of it. "Ethan, you're a workaholic. You're married to your job."

He looked at her, not really able to deny it. "Maybe in my line of work it's necessary," he said finally, resigned.

Serena nodded, understanding. She didn't think she could ever have a job like that. She liked her down time.

"It's worth it though," he added. She looked at him and knew that he really believed it.

"Why don't you tell me about your new job," Ethan said.

She looked up from her fourth crepe, which she was having with raspberry jam. "It's all right. The place is so strange, all underground inside the mountains. And it's a giant maze, I keep getting lost. The corridors all look the same and most rooms don't have numbers or any kind of label. I have a bad sense of direction and this is my worst nightmare. If I'm not paying attention I always take the wrong turn. I asked for a map, but they said that they didn't have one." She sighed. "I don't like being stuck underground like that, without windows. If it wasn't for the park I think I'd go crazy."

"The park?"

"Yeah, an underground park. It's this giant cave and there's a complicated system of mirrors and prisms that guide light in from outside and it lights up the place with real sunshine. It's uncanny. There are trees and grass and flower gardens. And there's wind too. It really feels almost like you're outside."

She continued describing the facility in as much detail as she could remember. Ethan listened intently, once in a while asking some questions.

She had her own room with an ensuite bathroom. It had a bed, table and chairs, a mini fridge and a desk and computer. The cafeteria didn't look like much at first glance, with its bare tables and chairs, but the menu was impressive. You could get pretty much anything you could ask for. Soups, salads, five different main courses every day, various desserts and fresh fruit.

The lab was really well-equipped with the latest state-of-the-art fabrication equipment. She shared an office with two other people. One of them was a tall, blond guy called Jeremy. He was also a fabrication specialists. He was only a year or two older that Serena and always wore jeans and t-shirts with funny captions. He was very likeable and always wanting to be helpful. He had been working there for almost a year. He showed her around and told her everything he knew about the facility and the project.

The two lead scientists were Stanley and Allen. The former she had met before at her interview. He was the lead theorist on the project. He was in his fifties, short and thin, with curly graying hair and glasses that he was always playing with. He was very energetic, which was a contrast to the soft-spoken Allen, her other office mate, a quantum theory specialist who always seemed to be lost in thought.

The other person she had met was Kristen, who was more of a general manager of all the projects. She was older, maybe fifty, and she had this presence that made everyone defer to her, even though she made it clear that she was just another person working with them. Kristen made Serena very uncomfortable the way she was always looking at her and especially when she asked about Irene. It was like they knew each other, but it wasn't a very friendly relationship, at least from Kristen's side.

"There was this one thing that I saw, that might be interesting to you." Serena said when she had finished describing her everyday activities. "I was wandering around, lost, as usual, and I saw these people pushing something on a cart. I think it was some kind of robot. It had a base with tracks like a tank and an arm with three joints and some kind of device attached to it. It might have been a camera."

Ethan looked up at this, intrigued. He pulled out his laptop and brought up a few images. "Did it look like this?"

"Yeah, pretty close to that." She looked at him questioningly.

"This is a prototype military robot. A copy of the plans for this machine was stolen a few weeks ago." A shadow passed across Ethan's face, which Serena couldn't interpret. "I didn't know Roberts was involved with this."

Ethan leaned back in his chair and stared into space. "A robot, and an very powerful energy source," he said to himself. Then his expression changed like he had just realized something - and it wasn't good.

"Oh my," Serena said, coming to the same conclusion.

Ethan looked at her "A killer robot that never runs out of power. Or a whole army of them."

"What would they do with that?" Serena asked, looking very concerned.

"Sell it to the highest bidder," Ethan said. "But, Serena, don't worry about this. There are people who do that as a full time job. Here, help me out with something."

He pulled out a large roll of paper and spread it out on the table. It was a floor plan.

"Thanks to your help this week, my tech was able to dig this up."

"Is this..." Serena began.

"Yes, it's a floor plan of the facility."

Serena examined the map. "Yeah, I see. This must be the park." She pointed to the largest area that was on one side. "There's the cafeteria. And..." she traced a path with her finger. "I think this is my room."

Ethan made notes on the map as she spoke. They identified as many areas as Serena could remember.

By the time this was done it was already getting dark. Serena would have to leave for the train station soon. The weekend had gone by too fast. She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep doing this for a whole year. Maybe she could finish early and have a nice vacation.

She sighed and got up. "I better go pack."

"Wait," Ethan said, "Just one more thing." She sat down again.

Ethan leaned forward and looked at her intently. "Serena, there is something I want you to do for us this week. It's a little bit more involved than just plugging a flash drive into a computer." The expression on his face and his tone caught her attention.

"My tech was able to access a few things thanks to your help. But most of the important information is behind some very strong security. We can bypass the security if we physically plug into one of their servers."

Serena didn't like where this was going. "Where are these servers located?" she asked, suspiciously.

Ethan pointed to a room on the floor plan. "We believe it's there. The door can be unlocked with an RFID key like most of the rooms. This is an RFID duplicator." He held up a small black square with a switch on it and an LED. "You flip the switch and the light goes red," he continued as he demonstrated. "Now it's in recording mode. You hold it up to another RFID key and it will read its signature and record it. When it's successful the light turns green. Flip the switch back and it behaves just like a regular RFID."

"How do I know whose RFID has access to the server room?"

"Haven't you met the IT guy yet?"

"I have. On the first day." Serena remembered Janet. On the first day Janet had come to Serena's office to set up her computer. Janet was nice enough, but didn't like to talk much.

"Then you just have to accidentally bump into her. You have to get the duplicator within about 3 centimeters of the key you want to copy, and then it takes just a second."

Serena nodded, a plan developing in her head. She had seen Janet in the cafeteria on a few occasions and that would be a perfect place to bump into her.

"Once I have the RFID then what."

"Then you go into the room and plug this into any of the servers." Ethan held up a flash drive that looked exactly the same as the one he had given her the previous week. "This one doesn't have any photos on it. If they happen to find it we don't want it traced to you. Make sure you don't leave any fingerprints either."

Serena went over the scenarios in her head, deciding if she should agree to do this. The fingerprint warning increased her anxiety. The task seemed simple enough, but there were a lot of ways it could go wrong. Ethan was looking at her expectantly.

"Serena, you can do this. Just don't rush anything. If it doesn't seem right then back out. If it doesn't happen this week, then you can try again next week."

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. He was a hard person to say no to.

"All right, I will try," she said taking the RFID duplicator and the flash drive.

"Thanks, Serena," he smiled at her appreciatively. "With your help we may finally be able to get Roberts and bring down his organization. From what we know he has a finger in about three quarters of the worlds illegal arms deals. And with this robot thing they could do even more damage."

Serena nodded. She could appreciate that she could be part of something really important, but currently she was more concerned about not getting killed or worse. She looked at her watch.

"I better go pack," she said, getting up, her expression distant.

"Serena."

She stopped and looked at him.

"Come here," he motioned.

She walked over and stood in front of him. He turned her around and pulled her down so she was sitting on the edge of the armchair, his legs on either side of hers. She didn't resist and sat still, not sure what he had in mind. He started massaging her shoulders. His strong hands firmly, but gently manipulating the tension out of her muscles.

"Serena, you're doing really well. You really have an eye for important details. Everything you told me today is incredibly useful. I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I don't think you can handle. And part of my job is knowing what people can handle."

Serena sighed, enjoying the massage. She knew he was right. She probably could handle this just fine and even though she didn't completely share his confidence in her, it helped that he believed in her.

When she felt fully relaxed she leaned back, laying on him with her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Ethan," she said quietly.

He put his arms around her and rested his hands on her stomach. "You'll be fine, Serena. I won't let anything happen to you."

She turned her head and smiled at him, knowing that he meant it. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the closeness. Serena had only known Ethan for a short time, but she felt comfortable with him, and safe. She hoped they would get to spend more time together.


	11. Lost My Way

Serena managed to fall asleep fairly easily on the train and started her work week well rested. She saw Janet in the cafeteria on Monday evening and noted the RFID hanging off her belt. Serena thought about just walking past her with the duplicator in her hand, but couldn't bring herself to do it that day. On Tuesday she didn't see Janet at all, but on Wednesday she was lining up at the buffet just as Serena walked in for lunch. Serena decided that this was the time to do it. She reached into her pocket and flipped the switch on the duplicator. She lined up next to Janet.

"Hello," said Janet.

"Hi," Serena replied smiling. She tried to act natural and relax and hoped that her nervousness wasn't showing.

As they were serving food onto their plates Serena got right up close to Janet, almost touching her. Her pocket was at about the same height as the RFID hanging from Janet's hip and she hoped that it had been close enough. She would have to wait until later to check as she didn't want to take the duplicator out where people could see. When she had gotten her food she noticed Jeremy waving at her from a table and joined him.

After lunch Serena went to the bathroom and pulled the RFID from her pocket. To her relief the light was green. She turned off the switch and hoped that it would work on the server room door.

Later that night when most people had retired to their rooms Serena found her way to the place that Ethan had showed her on the map. She didn't see anyone else and this helped to increase her confidence. She located the server room and tried the RFID. To her relief it worked. She used her sleeve to open the door. Inside the room there were four server racks. She walked around behind them and noted that all of them had USB ports. She wiped down the USB drive Ethan had given her and plugged it into one of the ports on the second rack. Nothing happened. She watched it for a few seconds, hoping that everything was working, then left the room, opening the door with her sleeve again.

The door had just closed behind her when she saw someone turning the corner at the end of the corridor. She started walking away, trying to keep a relaxed pace, even though her heart was pounding.

"Hey, you," she heard a voice behind her and froze. She turned around slowly. The man was walking towards her. He was wearing what she had come to identify as a security guard uniform.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Oh, um," she started nervously, "I, I'm lost. I wanted to go to the park, but this seems like completely the wrong place. Can you help me?" She gave him a pleading look.

He seemed to believe her and his expression softened. "Yeah sure, come with me," he said.

"This place is a total maze," Serena explained defensively as she walked with him. "I keep taking wrong turns."

"Yeah, I know," he said sympathetically, "It takes a while to get used to it. Here we are," he said after they had walked for a minute, and gesturing towards a door that looked like every other door, except for a sign on it that said 'The Park'.

"Thank you very much," Serena said, opening the door.

"Not a problem," he replied, "Have a good night."

Serena walked into the park and was amazed as always at the stark difference on either side of this door. On one side was a sterile corridor and on the other side it felt just like she was outside. She hadn't been here at night before and noticed that there were stars out.

Since she was here already and she didn't feel like going to bed yet she decided to go for a walk. It was actually quite pleasant. The air was cool and there was a gentle breeze. It helped to calm her after her close encounter. She sat on one of the benches for a while looking at the stars and wondering how they were simulated.

On Friday she had finished her work for the week and was in her room packing when a security man came and asked her to come with him. She got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but tried not to show any outward nervousness. He took her to one of the meeting rooms and motioned her inside, closing the door behind her.

Kristen and the security guy that she had run into on Wednesday evening were standing on the other side of the table. Janet was also there, sitting down with a laptop in front of her. This made Serena even more nervous. She had a good idea what this was going to be about and she wasn't sure her acting skills would be good enough to deny what she knew they knew, or at least suspected.

"Hello, Serena," Kristen said pleasantly, with a friendly smile, but somehow it didn't help to ease the heavy feeling in Serena's gut. "Please have a seat."

Serena pulled out a chair and sat down. She put her hands in her lap and willed herself to keep still.

"Serena," Kristen was studying her face intently, "Lukas here says he saw you outside the server room on Wednesday night. What were you doing there?"

"Um," Serena kept her voice level, "I have no idea where the server room is." Kristen raised one eyebrow. "On Wednesday I was trying to get to the park and I got lost. I'm still working on finding my way around this place."

Kristen nodded, her expression unreadable.

"Can you tell me what this is?" Kristen said putting the USB drive on the table in front of Serena.

Serena tried really hard to keep her expression neutral. She picked up the drive and examined it like she had never seen it before. "It looks like a USB drive," she said putting it down.

"Can you tell me what this was doing plugged into one of the servers?"

Serena looked at Janet, who was watching her looking very displeased, and then at Kristen, who still had that unreadable expression. Lukas was looking forward at nothing in particular. She put on a confused expression, shook her head and said, "No."

"Empty your pockets," Kristen demanded. Serena hesitated, still looking confused. "Your pockets. Put their contents on the table." A hint of a threat was creeping into Kristen's voice. "If you prefer Lukas here can help you out."

Serena looked from Kristen to Lukas. After a moment's hesitation she stood up and did as Kristen asked. She took out some tissues, some change and, reluctantly, the RFID duplicator. She cursed herself for not hiding it in her room somewhere, or even better throwing it out. Ethan hadn't mentioned anything about what she should do with it.

Kristen picked up the RFID and handed it to Janet who held it up to a scanner connected to the laptop. The two of them looked at something on the screen and then at each other. Serena couldn't see what they were looking at, but had an idea what it was.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" Kristen said, straightening up. "Can you explain to me why you are carrying around an RFID that is an exact duplicate of Janet's?"

Serena knew she had been caught. There was no point in trying to deny or defend herself anymore. She stared at the table and said nothing.

"By your silence I will assume that you have no explanation other than you planted this device on our servers." Kristen started pacing the room. "You know, Janet was very unhappy that her entire security system that she worked so meticulously to set up was compromised. You almost got away with it too. Whoever wrote the software on there is very good. Unfortunately for you Janet was setting up some RFIDs yesterday and happened to notice that someone had accessed the server room. Imagine her surprise when she found out it was her and she had no recollection of the event. Then we questioned the security patrols to find out if anyone had seen Janet sleepwalking." Kristen grinned, but no one else seemed to find it particularly funny. "Then we found out Lukas had seen that new engineer girl walking around in the vicinity of the server room and well, you know the rest." Kristen was now standing right behind Serena.

Serena sat perfectly still and kept her eyes down, waiting to find out what was going to happen to her.

"It's all right, Serena," Kristen said, in a friendly voice, putting her hand on Serena's shoulder. "I know this wasn't your idea. Tell me who put you up to this and you'll be fine."

Serena remained silent. Kristen leaned against the table facing her.

"You're giving me the silent treatment? Maybe you don't understand the gravity of the situation. Look at me, Serena," she commanded taking Serena's chin in her hands and pulling her face up their eyes met. "Give me a name. Who put you up to this?"

Serena looked in Kristen's eyes and saw something scary. She didn't know what to say, what she could say to get out of this in one piece. Something told her that trying to lie to Kristen would not end well.

"Ethan," she said quietly.

Kristen narrowed her eyes. "Ethan Hunt?" she asked.

"I don't know. I just know him as Ethan."

Kristen let go of Serena and began pacing again, this time briskly, deep in thought. Finally she stopped and went over to Lukas. She said something in his ear that Serena couldn't hear and he left the room. Kristen walked back to the other side of the table.

"You are going to catch this Ethan for us," she said.

Serena looked up at her surprised. She shook her head, "No," she said feebly.

"Yes, you will," Kristen stated. "What do you care for him anyway. He got you into this mess. Do you know what I normally do to people who try to hack into my servers?" Her expression and the tone of her voice made Serena shrink back into her seat involuntarily. Then the look was gone, replaced by her usual friendliness. This was really messing with Serena's mind and she didn't know what to think. "In case you're having doubts," Kristen continued, "I'm going to give you some extra incentive." She nodded at Janet who clicked on something and then turned the laptop around.

"Do you recognize that house?" Kristen asked.

Serena's eyes widened and she couldn't keep the fear off her face. It was her sister's house and they were watching it in real time. She could see Laura walking in front of the window with Marcus in her hands.

"They don't have anything to do with this," she said, weakly.

"Oh, but they do now. Don't worry, they're not aware of anything. And it's in your power to keep it that way."

Serena could clearly read the threat in Kristen's voice, even though it was friendly on the surface. Just then Lukas came back and handed something to Kristen.

"This is what you're going to do, Serena." Kristen explained. "It's very simple. You're going to get Ethan to drink this," she put down a small vial with a clear liquid in front of Serena, "then you're going to call us."

Serena looked at the vial, then at Kristen. She knew she only had one choice at this moment and that was to agree. She could think about other options later.

Kristen and Janet were watching her, waiting for her to make up her mind. She thought about how she might get Ethan to drink this. She had some doubts about her ability to fool him.

"Can I have another one?" she asked finally, looking up at Kristen. "In case I fail the first time or something."

"Of course," Kristen smiled, then nodded at Lukas who left the room again. "I am glad that you can see the situation clearly. We are not going to follow you any more closely than before, because I know Ethan Hunt is very careful and we wouldn't want to make him suspicious. But remember, it only takes one word from me and that house," she pointed to the laptop, "is going to burn down with all the people in it. Embed that image in your head and think about it if you get any ideas." She said it all in a neutral voice, but the message was quite clear for Serena.

Lukas came back and put down a second vial next to first.

"Lukas is going to take you to your room so you can get your stuff and then he'll take you to the train."

Kristen nodded at Lukas, who opened the door. Serena got up and put the two vials in her pocket along with the other things that she had taken out earlier.

"Have a good trip," Kristen said as if sending off an old friend.

Serena turned around for one last look, her heavy expression a stark contrast to the smile that was now on Kristen's face.


	12. In Deep Water

Serena lay on the cot feeling the gentle motion of the train. She checked her watch - it was 2am. The struggle going on inside her head kept her from sleeping. On the one hand she couldn't risk anything happening to her sister, but she also felt pangs of guilt at the thought of betraying Ethan. She thought for a long time about telling Ethan everything. She knew she could trust him, but it still seemed like too much of a risk for her family. What if he couldn't protect them. The image of the house burning kept flashing in front of her eyes. She knew that she had already made up her mind, but the guilt was still there. He would understand. Wouldn't he?

In between this moral struggle she would start thinking about how she would get Ethan to take the drug. She went over all the scenarios in her mind. How would she deliver it to him? Would he even drink it? What if he doesn't drink all of it? Will she be able to act naturally so that he doesn't suspect something? She went over possible dialogue countless times.

Her alarm jerked her out of a restless sleep. It was almost time for the train to arrive. She must have drifted off to sleep eventually, but she didn't feel rested at all.

When she got to her apartment, she paused outside the door to calm herself, not sure if Ethan might be waiting for her. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or more concerned when he wasn't there. She had plans to visit her sister that evening as usual. She had a few hours before they were expecting her. She tried to sleep, tried watching movies, but nothing really held her attention.

At Laura's house Serena knew everyone noticed that there was something wrong. Laura asked her what was going on, but Serena just told her that she had some work stuff on her mind. This wasn't completely unusual for her, so Laura reluctantly accepted it. Serena stayed as late as possible. She really didn't want to be alone right now.

When Serena woke up on Sunday it was already light out. She felt a little better after having gotten some sleep. She lay still and listened for any sound. The apartment was dead quiet. She got up anxiously, and almost ran into the dining room and then the kitchen, but there was no one there. She sank down on the floor, leaning against the wall. What if Ethan didn't come? Would Kristen accept that? Would she have to walk around like a zombie for a whole week in anticipation of what she would have to do the following weekend? She really hoped Ethan would show up. But then again she hoped he wouldn't. She went through the motions of getting dressed and making breakfast and tried to busy herself with some housework, but it was like it wasn't her doing all these things. Her mind was elsewhere.

Finally, as it was getting dark she heard her front door open. She stood at the end of the hallway, her heart pounding, not daring to hope Ethan had finally come. Then she saw his face and tears welled up in her eyes and she almost collapsed. Ethan ran up to her with a concerned look.

"Serena, are you all right?" He said holding her up. "What's wrong?"

For a minute she didn't trust herself to speak. She just stood there looking down.

"I'm fine," she managed finally. "It was a long week at work." She looked up at him. "And I thought you wouldn't come."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier." He hugged her. "I got delayed."

"That's all right," Serena said, regaining her composure and wiping her tears as she pulled away from him. "Um, you look tired. Why don't you sit down and let me get you something to drink."

Ethan gave her a strange look, but let go of her and went to the living room. Serena went to the kitchen and got two glasses. After a quick look over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't behind her she took the vial from her pocket and dumped the contents into one of the glasses. She filled them with water, not really having anything else to drink.

She found Ethan sitting down in his usual armchair in the living room and handed him the glass with the drug. She sat down, doing her best to seem calm and to not look at his glass. He put it down on the table and leaned forward, still looking at her with concern.

"What's wrong, Serena?"

"Nothing," she waved her hand dismissively. "It's been hard at work. I'm trying to remember all these things, but I'm just not sure if anything is right. It's not a big deal." She smiled to make the point. "Anyway," she said, changing the topic, "I put your USB drive in the server. Did you get what you needed?"

Ethan sat back. He still hadn't touched his water. "Yeah, kind of. It went online Wednesday around midnight." Serena nodded, confirming the time. "Then on Thursday evening it disappeared. I think they might have found it."

"Oh," Serena said, trying to seem surprised. "If they did I haven't heard anything about it." She hoped that she sounded believable.

Ethan was studying her face, but seemed not to notice anything wrong. "That's good," he said, finally picking up his glass and taking a long drink. "You did a good job, Serena. We managed to get some important information and my tech thinks that he can get what he needs without any more hardware on the inside, so there's nothing for you to do this week."

Serena nodded and smiled. "That's good."

Ethan drained the glass and then looked at it funny. "Serena, what was this?" He looked at her, but his eyes were already losing focus.

"I'm sorry, Ethan," she said, standing up, anguish on her face.

"Serena, what have you done?" He tried to stand up and move towards her, but his legs gave out and he collapsed between the couch and coffee table.

Serena stood frozen for a few seconds, watching his still body, the reality of what she had done hitting her hard. She took out her phone with shaking hands and called the number she had been given.

"Is he out?" came a curt voice.

"Yes," Serena said, almost inaudibly and the line went dead.

She wanted to touch Ethan, to smooth the hair out of his face, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was still standing there staring at him when a bunch of men burst into her apartment. Two of them immediately got to tying Ethan's hands and feet and then carried him out on a stretcher. Roberts came strolling in confidently behind them. When he saw Ethan's unconscious body an enormous grin spread on his face.

"Excellent work, sweetheart," he said to Serena, "Now, go pack your bags."

Serena looked at him, surprised. She hadn't really thought about what would happen after she handed off Ethan. She had thought that maybe they would just leave her alone.

"But," she protested weakly, "I got you what you wanted."

"Yes, you did," Roberts' grin was suddenly in her face and she involuntarily stepped backwards. "You still have work to do," he stated, "The work we hired you for," he added in response to her confused look. "Now go get your stuff." He waved at one of the other men. "You, go supervise. Make sure she doesn't bring anything … unnecessary."

The man took Serena's suitcase and emptied it out on her bed. He examined it carefully for any hidden items. He made her put everything she wanted to bring out on the bed and watched as she put it in the suitcase. When she was ready they took her out to a van that was waiting outside. Ethan was on the floor, still unconscious.

They drove out to a local airport where a small plane was waiting. The took Ethan onto the place first and then made her follow. The seats were arranged one on each side of the aisle, facing each other. She saw Ethan strapped into one of the seats with shoulder straps in addition to the lap belt. Suddenly she felt the need to be close to him, to talk to him and with a sudden burst of courage she asked if she could sit across from him. The guard shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with it. "Just don't get too close," he said. Serena sat down and hoped that Ethan would wake up soon.


	13. Betrayed

Ethan became aware of being conscious. He remained perfectly still. This was a habit, ingrained in him from years of experience. First you figure out where you are and what woke you. Then you decide on a course of action. In the ideal case that would be rolling over and going back to sleep, but most of the time there was some situation to deal with. He recognized the sound of airplane propellers. He felt an ache in his arms and found that it was from the awkward way his hands were behind his back. They were tied with zip ties. Not good. Handcuffs he could pick in seconds with a paperclip or a pen, but for zip ties he would need a blade. Not sensing any movement around him he half-opened his eyes.

His gaze fell on a pair of feet that looked familiar. He had last seen them as he stumbled over Serena's coffee table. Serena. She had drugged him. No, he had let her drug him. He had sensed something was wrong, but he was tired and he thought he could trust her.

His eyes moved up her legs until they fell on her hands, folded in her lap. No restraints. And he could only think of one thing. Serena had betrayed him. He felt a heaviness come over him like his limbs had suddenly turned to lead. To his surprise he wasn't angry. He had come to care for her and trust her. She had an openness that was rare, a stark contrast to most other people he dealt with where he always had to look for the real motives behind their carefully crafted facades, all the while keeping up his own walls. With Serena what you saw was what you got, and this allowed him to relax and really enjoy her company.

Now he thought he must have had it all wrong.

"Ethan?" Her voice broke into his thoughts. There was something in her tone that made him look up at her face. There was genuine concern in her eyes.

"Ethan, I'm sorry." The sincerity in her voice was making him rethink his conclusions from a few seconds ago. She seemed to be really distressed. "Please don't hate me."

Ethan kept his face impassive. She looked down at her hands and he could see the effort she was exerting to keep them still.

"They're following my sister," she said quietly, but earnestly. "If I don't do what they say... my sister, my nephew... the whole family... they'll... they'll be dead." She looked up at him searching for any reaction. "I didn't have a choice." She paused, giving her attention back to her hands. "I know. There's always a choice. And this is the one I made. I lost a lot of sleep over this, you know. But ultimately I couldn't risk anything happening to my family. I hope you can understand."

Ethan watched her, all her emotions clear on her face like an open book. His momentary heaviness all but disappeared. Now he just felt sympathy for her. He wanted to reach out and touch her and tell her that it's all right. Instead he just kept looking at her, his face blank.

He wondered why they had brought her along. Was it just to use her as leverage in the inevitable interrogation? Is that the reason they let her sit so close to him? To see how he would react to her? The best thing he could do for her right now would be to distance himself from her as much as possible. But he didn't want to completely reject her. She was in pretty bad shape already. And, even though he didn't really want to get her into more trouble, he was hoping that maybe she could help him. They obviously still didn't see her as much of a threat and this could work to his advantage.

"Irene said that you were trustworthy," he said finally, letting disappointment drip into his voice. "What would she think of this?"

At his words Serena looked up with a perplexed look. He held her eyes, willing her to read between the lines, but she looked down again, even more distraught than before. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the flight.

After they got back to the facility Serena was shown to her room. She was to stay in her room unless she was working in her office or eating. They posted a guard for the night, but during the day they followed her from a distance, so as not to alarm her colleagues.

She lay in bed going over everything that had happened. What she had done to Ethan still weighed on her, especially since he now hated her. And Irene... why would he bring up Irene? As she wondered about this it suddenly hit her. Irene. She knew Ethan. She may be the only person that Serena knew that also knew Ethan. And it dawned on her - Ethan was sending her a message. A huge smile broke out on her face and a warm feeling passed over her. Ethan didn't really hate her. He just wanted everyone else to think that he did. It made sense.

Serena knew she had to contact Irene. But how? She was pretty sure they would be closely monitoring all of her communications. She thought about writing some vague email with a hidden message that they wouldn't get even if they read it, but she didn't know Irene well enough and couldn't think of how she would code it. Maybe she could use someone else's account. Like Jeremy. She had noticed that he never locked his computer. How careless of him.


	14. Breakfast With The Enemy

After reaching the facility Ethan walked along the corridors flanked by four guards and Roberts. This place really was a big maze. It took most of his concentration to keep track of where he was. He was glad for it though, because it helped him ignore Roberts' chatter. From what he did hear it was all just gloating, about how they had captured him and how he had no chance to escape. The latter part was true for the moment. He had considered his options and saw no way out.

Finally they got to a prison gate of solid metal bars. Next to it there was a room with large windows, which Ethan assumed were bulletproof. One of the guards went into the room using his RFID and opened the gate. Another one joined him and they seemed to be making themselves comfortable as the other three men led Ethan down the corridor. This place was quite a contrast from the rest of the facility with its rough stone walls and rusty pipes. They walked past two cells with traditional metal bars until they reached one fronted with glass. Ethan felt like he was in The Silence of the Lambs. Roberts keyed a number into a keypad next to the cell. One of glass panels slid over and the guard shoved Ethan inside. After the panel was closed they opened a small trap door at waist level and told Ethan to put his hands through so they could remove the ties. Roberts made some more snide comments about enjoying their hospitality and then they were gone.

After they left Ethan looked around. The room was about three by four meters. On one side there was a cot with a pillow and blanket. The back wall had a toilet and sink. A table and chair completed the furnishings. Ethan examined the walls and floor, and especially the trap door, but found no weakness in the fortress. He lay down on the cot. There was nothing for him to do now but wait. And he was tired, he hadn't slept in two days. He would do better with whatever was coming if he got some rest. He was grateful for his ability to put things that weren't immediately important out of his mind.

After a dreamless sleep Ethan woke up. As usual he remained still as he assessed his state. He sensed a presence. He didn't know how he knew, maybe it was an almost inaudible sound, maybe it was the heat emanating from a warm body.

"Good morning, Ethan," said a woman's voice.

He almost jerked upright. How did she know he was awake - he hadn't moved. He opened his eyes slowly and turned them in the direction of the voice. A woman was standing over him. She was around fifty, straight brown hair and shining dark eyes. He thought she looked familiar, but couldn't figure out why.

"I thought we could have breakfast," she said sweeping her hand in the direction of the table.

Ethan followed it and saw that there were now two chairs and the table was covered in dishes. He sat up slowly, curling his shoulders back to stretch the sleep from his body. His visitor sat down in one of the chairs. Ethan studied her. What was she doing here, so confident, seemingly unaware or unconcerned with what he was capable of. He could incapacitate a man twice her size in seconds, yet there she sat, with a smile on her face. He looked her over wondering where the hidden weapon was.

As if reading his mind, she said, "If you try anything this room is going to fill with an anesthetic gas. Of course you would still have time to hurt or even kill me before we pass out," her lips curled into a sly smile, "but that won't get you anywhere."

So, she's not stupid, Ethan thought, but she is still crazy. How can she be so sure that he wouldn't try anyway? Why would she take the chance.

"Please, sit down," she said gesturing towards the other chair.

Looking at the food Ethan suddenly felt ravenously hungry. He got up slowly and sat down opposite the visitor. The plate in front of him contained an omelet, sausages and toast. There was also a bowl of fruit salad, a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice. The other side of the table was set exactly the same way. Looking at the food Ethan wanted nothing more than to grab handfuls of it and stuff it in his mouth, but he hesitated.

"Would you feel better if we switched plates?" the visitor asked, noting his hesitation. He met her eyes and studied her face. Was she expecting this? Maybe she put the drugs in her own food knowing that he would be suspicious. No, he thought, if they were going to drug him it wouldn't be this way.

His eyes dropped to his plate. He picked up a forkful of omelet and put it in his mouth. He chewed it experimentally and almost moaned at how good it was. Serena was right about how good the chef was here.

"It's good, right?" the visitor said smugly as she started on her own food. Ethan nodded.

They ate in silence for a while, Ethan being too focused on satisfying his hunger to think about anything else, the visitor watching him with obvious satisfaction. Finally, when Ethan had satisfied his body, his mind turned back to the situation at hand.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"How rude of me," she said with fake sincerity, "I'm Kristen."

Ethan remembered Serena talking about Kristen. He should have made the connection since she fit Serena's description perfectly.

"This is my place," Kristen added.

Ethan looked at her, confused. "What about Roberts?" he blurted out.

"He's my... field agent," she said matter-of-factly.

Ethan was completely shocked. They had never gotten even an inkling that Roberts wasn't running the show. He looked at Kristen with amazement as his mind tried to sort out the implications.

"Colin is very good at what he does," she explained, "That's why I keep him around. It frees me up to focus on other things. But enough about me. We're here to talk about you." She gave him a look that he didn't like at all. It made him feel objectified and he felt something of a deja vu.

Kristen got up and started pacing around the room, as much as the confined space would allow. "You're one of IMF's top agents. And yet you got captured by a slip of a girl." Her face turned into a wry smile. "And I've met her. She couldn't convince a baby to drink its own mother's milk." She leaned on the table next to him and ran her hand along his cheek. He raised his eyes to meet hers. "You must have a real soft spot for her," she said gently, searching his face for a moment. He remained expressionless. She got up and continued her pacing. "I can't blame you. She's real sweet. With those innocent puppy eyes. I hope that this whole ordeal hasn't ruined her. Especially after your little show on the plane." She gave him a look that said she was onto him. "I do still need her expertise. But even if she becomes useless, this is worth it."

She stopped behind Ethan and put her hands on his shoulders. She leaned forward, running her hands down his chest to his thighs. Her face was next to his and he could feel her breath on his cheek.

"Tell me, Ethan, how did you convince Irene to give you the prototype."

He stiffened. How would she know about that.

"It would seem Irene has a soft spot for you." She ran her hand up the inside of his thigh, brushing past his groin. The tension in his body increased. "I can't blame her," Kristen purred in his ear. Her hand made its way under his shirt, exploring the contours of his body.

Ethan was fighting hard to keep his body from getting aroused. Especially with the memories of his night with Irene flooding back to him. The mixed emotions from that night conflicted inside of him, and the pleasurable memories were winning.

Suddenly, Kristen pulled away and walked towards the glass wall. After a moment of uncertainty Ethan relaxed visibly. She was leaning against the glass looking at him with half a smile on her face.

"Why do you think Irene gave me the prototype?" he asked, when she didn't speak.

"Because she's the only one Martin would have trusted with something like that." Ethan thought he detected a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Didn't you send the people who killed Lasseter?"

A dark shadow passed over her face at this question. "Those amateurs have been dealt with," she said, with such venom in her voice that made Ethan really glad that he wasn't one of those amateurs.

"Were you and Lasseter friends?" He ventured, encouraged by her apparent willingness to talk.

She looked at him for a second, deciding on what to tell him. "Irene and I were business partners. A long time ago. Martin was also on our team. Irene and I had a difference of opinion on how to run the company. Martin decided to go with her. I never held it against him and it didn't work out so badly. The two of them came up with some very profitable technologies. "

"That you could steal and sell to the highest bidder." Ethan added in.

Kristen shot him a hurt look. "I didn't just steal it. I turned it into something that my clients would want. Irene and Martin were always so concerned about their technology being used responsibly. There's no money in that." She waved her hand in a frustrated manner. "The real money is in things that people can use to kill other people. Or at least make them very scared." She looked at Ethan pointedly. "But I never sold to those who were likely to use it here, in the US. There are enough civil wars going on in the world." She smiled, unapologetic for what she was doing.

Ethan listened attentively, a lot of pieces falling into place. He wondered if Irene knew that her old business partner was behind everything that Roberts did.

"Ethan, it has been a pleasure." She smiled, then walked over and kissed him on the cheek, her hand lingering on his face. Then she went to the glass door and knocked on it. The door slid open and she stepped through. "Colin will be along later to ask you some questions," she said, the smile on her face belying what he knew he could expect from her 'field agent'.


	15. Hidden Message

Serena tried to go about her day as usual the next morning. She noted there was always a guard watching her, but they were being discreet and nobody else seemed to notice. What they did notice was that she didn't seem to be quite with it and kept asking her if something was wrong. She told them she was fine and she was just tired. They looked at her skeptically, but accepted her explanation. She sat in front of her computer, not really seeing what was on the screen. She was listening to what her coworkers were doing behind her, which was mostly typing and clicking, and counting the minutes till lunch.

"Hey, Serena." She turned around to find Jeremy was standing at the door. "Let's go eat."

"Yeah, sure," she said, "I'll join you in a minute. I just want to finish something here."

"All right, but don't take too long," Jeremy said as he and Allen were leaving.

"Yeah, it's just a quick thing," she assured him.

After the door closed, she waited for a minute to make sure they were gone. She looked over at Jeremy's computer and noted with satisfaction that it wasn't locked. She leaned over his desk, brought up his email and composed a new message to Irene. She had been thinking about what to write all day. She tried to make it vague, but specific enough that Irene would know what it was about. She hoped it would be enough. She hit send and waited for a few minutes to make sure no 'undeliverable mail' messages came back. She deleted it from the sent items and put Jeremy's screen back to the state it was in before.

After lunch she went back to doing the same thing she did all morning. Suddenly a command window popped up on her screen.

_What is your name?__

She looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but Jeremy and Allen seemed absorbed in their work. She watched the blinking cursor for a few seconds then replied. Almost immediately a new question followed.

_What do you like to have for breakfast?__

She thought for a minute, then remembered her morning with Ethan. If it was someone Ethan knew then he might have told them about it.

_Crepes__

_Thank you, Serena. Are you alone? y/n?__

_n__

_When you're alone type 'now'. __

She looked at the cursor, then at her watch. There were almost two hours until 5, which is when they usually stopped working. She brought up another window and tried to distract herself, willing the hours to pass faster. After what seemed like an eternity Jeremy got up and said he was done for the day and left. Allen left a few minutes later. Her hands almost shaking Serena brought up the command window and typed 'now'. Nothing happened. She watched the screen in anticipation, her anxiety building. Finally, there was a response.

_I am Ethan's friend, Luther. Where is he?__

_He was captured by Roberts. I think he is here in the facility.__

_How did he get caught?__

Serena stared at the cursor. This was a very difficult form of communication, not being able to see the other person, or even hear their voice. She had no idea what might be the motivation behind the question. She decided to just be up front about it.

_I drugged him. My sister was in danger. Sorry.__

_Don't worry about that now. Do you want to help us? y/n?__

She thought about this. She really did want to help. She wouldn't have sent the email otherwise.

_y__

_I will send a team to protect your family. ok?__

_I don't want their entire lives to be turned upside down because of this.__

_The team will just observe unless something happens. I will get the best team we have and I will go with them myself. Please help us get Ethan back.__

Serena hesitated with her answer, but she already knew what it was going to be. There was only one thing she could do.

_ok.__

_Thank you, Serena. I think I know where Ethan is. Look at the map. The red dot is Ethan. The blue dot is your room.__

A new window filled the screen. She recognized the floor plan that she and Ethan had looked at. The red dot was in a small room next to two tiny rooms at the end of a corridor that was slightly separated from everything else. It was almost at the opposite end of the facility from the blue dot. After examining the map she went back to the command window.

_What do you want me to do?__

_Do you think you can get to where Ethan is?__

Serena's first thought was no way. For one thing she wasn't supposed to leave her room at night and there was a guard there to make sure of it. She had no idea how she would even get past that guard. She didn't think she could successfully knock him out, she wasn't that good at jiu jitsu yet. Then she remembered something. She felt around in her pocket and took out a small vial. The second vial that she had asked Kristen for. They had all forgotten about it. A plan began to form in her head. Before going back to her room she got a couple of syringes and needles from the lab.


	16. Rats In A Maze

That evening Serena went through all her clothes looking for the most revealing outfit. She didn't have a lot of those in general and she hadn't been thinking about that when she had packed. She settled on a nice, tight t-shirt, with a somewhat low neckline. For bottoms, her only option was jeans. Around ten she poked her head out of her door and saw a guard standing at the end of the corridor. She had never seen him before. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled at him. He nodded back.

"You know, I'm pretty bored, being stuck in my room all night. You wanna come keep me company." She tried to sound suggestive, but not desperate. He just looked at her. He seemed pretty young and unsure of what to do. "I'll be here all night." She gave him her best smile then went inside and closed the door.

She waited. It was hard, but she tried to keep calm and convince herself that he just needed more time. It took about twenty minutes, but finally there was a knock on the door. She opened it and invited the guard in.

"What's your name?" she asked, trying to be friendly.

"James," he said flatly, looking around.

"Nice to meet you, James. Please, sit." She indicated the only chair in the room. He went over and sat down, uncertainly.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked, opening the mini fridge. "I have juice, and juice."

"Sure," he said.

She took out two juice boxes and handed one to him. She watched as he took out the straw, pushed it into the box and took a sip. She did the same with hers and sat down on the bed.

"How is your day so far, James?"

"Good." He didn't seem very certain about what he was doing and sucked on his juice box nervously.

Serena kept up the conversation, talking about herself, since he didn't seem to be in a very talkative mood. After a few minutes she noticed his eyes unfocusing. She recognized the same symptoms that she had seen in Ethan earlier, except James wasn't so aware of what was happening.

"James, are you alright?" she asked with concern. "I think you better lie down." He didn't resist as she helped him get to the bed. As soon as he lay down she noted that he was already out. She got to work.

She took off his clothes, which was surprisingly difficult to do with an unconscious person, then tied him up with his own zip ties and put tape over his mouth. She tried his uniform on and was happy to find that it wasn't overly baggy on her. She had seen female guards around, so she knew she wouldn't immediately look suspicious to anyone who saw her. She examined his utility belt. There was a walkie talkie, his RFID, a taser and a gun. She took out the taser and played with it until she was pretty sure she knew how to use it.

She hesitated before taking out the gun. She had never held a real gun before. She identified the safety and aimed it a few times to get a feel for it. She really didn't want to have to use it, but there was a possibility that she might have to and she wanted to be prepared.

She put everything back in the utility belt and put it on, then took a deep breath and walked out of her room. She walked confidently along the corridors towards her destination. She had studied the map for an hour memorizing the route she planned to take as well as alternate routes. She came across one other guard, but they just nodded to each other and she kept walking.

When she got to the corridor where Ethan was supposed to be she approached cautiously. She looked around the corner and saw two guards sitting around in a control room. She pulled back before they saw her. She hadn't seen these guards before either, which made things easier. She leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. She made a plan in her head and went over it until she was confident she could carry it out.

She walked over to the control room and smiled at the guards as she scanned the RFID. She walked in and stuck the taser in the neck of the closest guard, pulling out her gun and pointing it at the other one at the same time. As the first guard fell to the floor twitching the second one raised his hands with a look of shock on his face. Serena dropped the taser, put both hands on the gun and put all her attention on the second guard.

"Stand up," she said with all the authority she could put in her voice. She wanted him to know she was serious. "Take off your belt and put it on the desk. Slowly." She watched as he did it, the gun in her hands not wavering. "Take off his belt," she indicated the other guard, who was still twitching on the floor, "and throw it over there. Then tie him up." As the guard bent over to do as she asked she moved around to the desk. She waited until he had bound his colleague's hands, then made him drag him to the corner of the room furthest from the control panel and attach him to a large pipe that ran from the floor to the ceiling. As the guard was busy doing that she walked up behind him and tasered him with his own weapon. He fell, twitching, on top of his colleague. She secured his hands behind his back and attached him to the pipe as well. Satisfied that they weren't going anywhere she turned her attention to the control panel.

She saw a video feed on the computer screen and recognized Ethan, stretched out on a cot. Her heart leaped into her throat and she almost started crying with relief right there. But she had to hold it together a little bit longer. She found the switch and opened the primary door, then ran down the corridor to Ethan's cell. Ethan lifted his head to see who was coming and when he recognized her he leapt off the bed.

"Serena," he said, stunned.

She ran straight to the keypad and tried the first number that Luther had given her. Ethan watched, his hands pressed on the glass. There was a beep and a red light came on. Serena tried the second number with the same result. She was starting to get worried. She only had one more number to try. She stilled her hand and keyed it in carefully, making sure to get the digits right. There was a much friendlier beep, a green light, and the door slid open. In a second Ethan was outside. Serena's legs gave out and she almost collapsed, but Ethan was there, holding her, his strength reassuring. She buried her face in his shoulder unable to stop the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Serena," he said gently. "Serena, come on. We're not home free yet. I need you to be strong for a little bit longer."

She nodded, still holding onto him and trying to find her legs. After a few seconds she pulled away, wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve. She looked up at him and it was only then that she noticed the cut on his lip and the red marks around his wrists.

"What did they do to you?" she asked concerned, her guilt threatening to surface again.

"It's nothing," he said, shrugging, "I've had worse. Now, come on, we need to get out of here."

He started walking down the corridor and she followed him. When he got to the control room and saw the guards he looked back and cocked an eyebrow at Serena. She just shrugged, she wasn't sure how she had managed it either. Ethan went inside, nodded at the stunned guards and took the utility belts that Serena had left on the desk. He put one on and took the gun from the other one.

They walked quickly down the corridors, Ethan leading, Serena close behind. They were just rounding the corner of a short corridor when they saw a guard coming around from the other side. They stood there and looked at each other for a second. Serena recognized him as one of the guards from the plane and it looked like he recognized them too. He reached for his belt as he went back around the corner. Ethan pulled Serena back at the same time. They stood against the wall for a few seconds, then Ethan peered around the corner. There was nobody there. There was no other way to go, they were stuck. Ethan looked around again and when he didn't see anyone he ran down to the other end. He looked carefully around the corner where the guard had disappeared and then waved to Serena to follow him.

As she was running over a voice boomed through the corridors. "Attention all personnel. Lockdown has been initiated. Remain where you are and stay clear of any doors. Code 26 is in effect."

Ethan looked at Serena. "What's code 26?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. They just told me about lockdown. They didn't mention any codes."

"They know we've escaped. They're going to assume we're going for the exit. Is there any other way out of here?"

Serena thought for a moment, picturing the map in her head. "I think there's another exit. It's smaller, there might be fewer guards there."

Ethan nodded. "Let's go there. Tell me which way. And keep your eyes open."

Serena nodded and pointed to the left. "It's that way."

Ethan started down the corridor, Serena was two steps behind him, when something on the wall caught her eye.

"Ethan?" No sooner had she spoken than she heard a sound of metal sliding against metal and a snap. She looked up to see Ethan in front of a metal wall, his arm just a millimeter from it. As she watched the two jagged blades parted in the middle and retreated into the floor and ceiling, only to return again three seconds later. This continued repeating itself. The blades snapping together, then retreating, with a sinister sound of scraping metal.

Serena stood there looking at Ethan and the blades, dumbfounded. He remained frozen for a few seconds, but found his words first. "Yes, Serena?"

She felt like she was going into shock. Ethan had almost just been killed. He walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Serena, it's ok. I'm fine." He shook her lightly.

"You almost died," she managed, her eyes still transfixed on the blades, cringing every time they snapped together.

"But I didn't. Now, come on, we have to keep going."

With great effort Serena tore her eyes away and looked at Ethan.

"What did you want to tell me?" he asked.

She pointed to the wall, to a small lens. There was one on each side lined up with each other. "I've never seen those before."

"Looks like motion sensors," Ethan said, examining them. "I guess we know what code 26 is now."

"Ethan, how are we going to continue?"

"The same way we were going before."

"Um, how are we going to get past that?" She pointed to the blades that kept going up and down. Snick, snack.

"There's a three second pause when they're up. That's plenty of time to step through."

Serena looked at him, biting her lip in anguish.

"Here, I'll go first." Ethan walked up to the blades, standing just a few inches from them, waited for them to retreat, then took two steps forward. The blades snapped together behind him. When they came apart he was looking back at Serena. "See? Piece of cake. Come on." He beckoned her.

She walked up to the blades gingerly. They snapped together in front of her and she recoiled.

"Come on, Serena. We need to keep going," Ethan said urgently.

Serena watched the blades go up and down in front of her. A couple of times she almost went, but hesitated. She took a deep breath, looked at Ethan. He nodded in encouragement. She waited. The blades retreated.

"Now!" Ethan said. She took a few steps looking straight ahead and cringed again when she heard the snap behind her.

"See," Ethan said with a smile, and patted her on the back. "That wasn't so hard." She gave him a look showing her disagreement with that statement, then followed him as he continued down the corridor.

They moved much more slowly now, on the lookout for any more traps. Ethan checked every doorway and looked carefully around any corners to make sure no one would surprise them. A few corridors later they accidentally triggered another trap, but were aware of it in time. This one was a pit with spikes that shot up from the ground.

"I feel like I'm stuck in a Prince of Persia dungeon," Serena remarked without humour. Ethan laughed.

They didn't run into any more guards, or anyone else for that matter. The corridors were all deserted. It seemed unusual, but they didn't have time to think about it. Eventually, they made it to the secondary exit. It was much smaller than the primary, with room for only two vehicles to park there. They stopped at the double doors that led out to it and Ethan peeked through the window.

"Shit," he said as he pulled back, "It's crawling with guards." He took a deep breath, his frustration showing on his face. He leaned against the wall, conflicted about what to do. Serena watched him, equally concerned, and equally out of ideas.

"It's over, kids," came a voice from the other side of the door. It was Kristen. "There's nowhere to run. If you give up peacefully, we can avoid people getting killed." She sounded deadly serious. Ethan knew when he was trapped, but he hated giving up.

"Ethan, you know that I'm right. Give up now and I promise I won't hurt Serena. Not much anyway." Ethan still hesitated, his mind frantically searched for options, but came up with nothing.

"Ethan," Kristen sounded like an angry parent now, giving her child a last warning. "I will count to three. One." He hit his head back against the wall in frustration.

"Two." He looked at Serena, she was watching him, ready to follow him in whatever he chose.

"Three." With a sigh, put his hands up and stood in front of the doors, visible in the window. Serena stood beside him.

The doors flew open and two guards pushed them to the other side. Kristen was standing in the middle, her arms crossed, looking none too pleased. There were at least a dozen guns pointed at them. Serena found it quite unnerving, but Ethan didn't seem to notice. Somehow he was more calm now. The decision had been made and he had to think about the next steps.

The guards relieved them of their belts and patted them down looking for any other weapons. Then they tied their hands behind their back. Kristen looked from one to the other, then she walked up to Serena. "You are a lot more trouble that you're worth," she said, furious. Then without warning she punched Serena in the gut and as Serena doubled over she grabbed the back of her neck and brought her knee up into her ribs. Serena fell to her knees then toppled over, a panicked expression on her face as she tried to get her breath back.

Ethan watched, agonized, but he didn't move. Kristen watched Serena as she went down, then looked up at Ethan. Her eyes were daggers. "Get them out of my sight," she commanded, spitting out the words. Two of the guards got Serena to her feet and then they led her and Ethan out.


	17. Back In The Cage

The two found themselves back in the cell that Serena had just rescued Ethan from. After the guards left Ethan sat down on the cot, and Serena stood in front of the glass looking out. She really didn't like being confined like this. She tried not to think about it.

"Serena," Ethan spoke after a long silence, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said absent-mindedly.

"That looked like it hurt."

"Oh," she snapped out of her reverie. She stretched the side where Kristen had kneed her, wincing slightly. "It's not too bad. It could have been worse."

"Yeah, she looked pretty pissed."

"I don't think I'm getting on her good side." Serena stated with bitter humour. Ethan chuckled.

"Serena, what you did today, that was impressive," he said sincerely.

She looked down shyly. "Anyone could have done it."

Ethan walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "No. You did it. And whatever happens I want you to know that I appreciate it."

"I got you in here in the first place," she said still looking down. Ethan turned her around and waited until she met his eyes.

"Yes you did, but you had a good reason and I don't hold it against you."

She nodded, a slight smile coming back to her face. But it quickly fell when she remembered about her family. "I hope that Luther can keep my sister safe."

Ethan looked at her sympathetically. "If he said he would then you can count on him. But I don't think they're in danger at this moment." She looked at him hopefully. "If she wanted some kind of revenge on you she would make you watch." Serena looked horrified at the idea and he regretted opening his big mouth. "Look, don't worry. This would be an unnecessary mess, and you don't keep your existence hidden from the world for as long as Kristen has by indulging in... that kind of thing."

Serena nodded and turned back to the glass, still looking worried. Ethan watched her, thinking about everything that she had gone through because of him. He had known from before that she was capable of a lot more than she gave herself credit for, but tonight's rescue had completely surprised him. He felt responsible that she was now stuck in this cell with him. But going over everything he wasn't sure he could have done any better. He was unprepared, with no support and only a cursory knowledge of the location. Kristen knew they were trapped and didn't bother sending anyone after them. She waited for them to get to the end of the maze, assuming they didn't get killed by her traps first, and then she put them back in the cage.

This time he knew they weren't getting out unless Kristen wanted them to. There was nothing to do but wait.

"It's been a long day," he said to Serena, "You should try to get some sleep."

She turned around and looked at the cot. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

"I think we could both fit." It was a statement, but she looked at him with almost a plea in her eyes.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. We can both get some sleep."

Ethan lay down on the cot with his back to the wall and Serena fitted herself with her back against his chest. The cot was just wide enough for the two of them. They shifted around until they were both somewhat comfortable. He put his arm over her and she put her hand in his.

He could feel her deliberately slow down her breathing and will her body to relax. It took a few minutes, but eventually he felt her fall into sleep. It wasn't long until Ethan followed her.


	18. Just Got Started

When Ethan woke up he had no idea how long he had slept. The light in this place was always the same. He felt rested, but sore, not so much from the uncomfortable sleeping position as from what Roberts had done the previous day. He climbed over Serena carefully, trying not to wake her. She rolled over, but remained asleep. Ethan noticed a tray of food had been pushed into the the slot in the glass wall. It must have been past breakfast time. He debated waiting for Serena so they could eat together, but his stomach wasn't fond of that idea.

Serena woke up an hour later and had just finished her breakfast when two guards came by. They took Serena and led her to the interrogation room at the end of the corridor. A few minutes later Roberts came by with two more guards. As usual he had that self-important grin on his face.

"Mr Hunt. Shall we continue our chat from yesterday," Roberts said as the guards tied Ethan's hands behind his back and led him to the interrogation room.

In the room they tied him down to a chair, facing Serena, who had her arms tied above her head, hanging from a chain, her feet barely touching the ground. She was looked very unhappy and turned a questioning look to Ethan.

"Serena, everything will be all right," he said looking directly at her, willing her to believe him.

"I don't think you're in any position to make such promises," Roberts said with a sneer.

Ethan turned his intense gaze to Roberts. "Leave her out of this," he said quietly, but forcefully.

"No, Hunt, you should have left her out of this." Roberts leaned over him, their faces only inches away. "It's your fault she's here."

"No. It was my choice." Roberts turned around and both men looked at Serena surprised.

Roberts walked over to her and grabbed her chin. "It was your choice, was it. And are you prepared to deal with the consequences?" There was a threatening edge to his voice. Serena turned her head away.

"You know, Hunt," Roberts said as he pulled up Serena's shirt. "The boss didn't say nothing permanent about her." Serena didn't know what he was talking about, but the way he said it chilled her blood.

"No!" Ethan yelled as he helplessly pulled against his restraints.

Roberts pulled Serena's shirt over her head and pushed it behind her neck. She shivered, and not just from the cold. She looked at Ethan, her distress growing as she watched him struggle. Roberts pulled out a knife and ran the flat side along her cheek and down her body. She wanted to cry. This couldn't be happening to her. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was somewhere else. She felt the cold blade running over her skin and then there was a sharp sting on her side in the middle of her ribcage. She inhaled sharply and bit her lip, trying not to cry. Then she heard the door open and felt Roberts' presence recede. She carefully opened one eye, then the other. Roberts was talking on a phone that she assumed the guard standing by the door must have brought.

"But we're just getting started," Roberts was saying, obviously displeased. "No, they're fine. Like I said I was just starting." He listened for a couple of minutes. "Yes. … Yes, I got it." He turned off the phone angrily and threw it at the guard who had brought it, who somehow managed to catch it.

"All right, change of plans," he said to the guards in the room. "Bring them."

The guards let Serena down and untied Ethan from the chair and pushed them toward the door. Serena put her shirt back on trying not to irritate the cut, which was fortunately not deep and had almost stopped bleeding. They walked through the corridors in silence, not knowing what would happen next.

They ended up at the main entrance where a black limousine was waiting. The guards untied their hands and Roberts motioned for them to get in the car.

"Perhaps we can continue another time, Mr Hunt," he said with a grin, like they had just been playing a game of cards.

Ethan looked at him and got into the car without a word. Serena followed. They still weren't sure whether this was good or bad.

"Hello." A familiar face beamed at them. Serena's jaw literally dropped. Ethan had an expression of cautious optimism.

"Irene," he said evenly.

"Relax," Irene said, "It's not a giant conspiracy. I am not in cahoots with your worst enemy." She looked from one to the other for some kind of acknowledgement. "I made a trade," she explained. "I gave Kristen something that she wanted in exchange for you two 'troublemakers'."

Serena relaxed a little, but Ethan still seemed tense.

"What did you give her?" Ethan asked.

"The other prototype." Serena opened her mouth to protest, but Irene held up a hand. Ethan looked at her coolly, waiting to hear the rest. "Along with all the schematics that my team was able to complete," Irene continued. "She has everything she needs to be able to duplicate the prototype. She'll need a fab engineer to design the process, but I'm sure she has someone other than you." She looked at Serena, who nodded.

"You seem awfully cheerful for having just handed over a free energy device to an arms dealer who we know is planning to use it with attack robots," Ethan remarked, his tone icy.

"I thought you'd be a little bit more grateful," Irene said, sounding hurt, but with a sarcastic undertone. "Who knows what Kristen would have done to you. Although, Ethan, when it comes to you, I think her and I have very similar ideas." She looked at Ethan and they exchanged a meaningful look before he looked away, not saying anything. Serena watched them confused, unaware of the history between them.

Ethan was not very pleased. The whole mission was for nothing. Kristen and Roberts had the prototype and the intel they had gathered on the facility would likely be useless, since he was sure they wouldn't stay there knowing that it wasn't so secret anymore.

"Ethan," Irene said quietly, "Your mission was not a failure. You now know a lot more about the organization than you did before and you've set them back quite a bit. It won't be easy for them to find another place to set up shop. It will take weeks, even months. Besides, the prototype isn't as stable as we originally thought." At this Ethan looked up at her. "As we were testing it we noticed a slight drop in the output. We took a closer look and found that the structure of the materials is degrading. The change is still small enough that Kristen didn't notice, but the degradation will continue. So, the energy isn't as free as it seemed. Of course one device will run for a while, maybe a few days, before it needs to be replaced, but having to replace them so often makes it cost-prohibitive. I don't think they'll be able to sell this once they discover the flaw and if they try they will have some angry customers." Irene grinned.

Ethan's expression softened. "So we get to have our cake, and eat it too."

"Pretty much," Irene replied, obviously pleased with herself.

"Irene, have you heard anything about my family?" Serena broke in.

Irene looked at her sympathetically. "Yes. Kristen promised to leave you and your family alone. You don't have to worry about her anymore."

Serena smiled, daring to believe it was true. "Thank you. But are you sure that we can trust her?"

"Yes, my dear. I reminded her of the bonds that sisters share."

Ethan's eyes locked on Irene looking like he had just made a great discovery. "Sisters," he said, a lot of meaning behind the one word.

Irene cocked her head to one side and regarded him. Serena looked confused again.

"It happens in the best of families, huh?" Ethan asked, studying Irene's face.

"Hmpf. I didn't know she was involved in all this." She sighed. "I see her once a year. She makes up some stories that I know are complete lies. But it makes mom happy."


	19. Home At Last

They arrived at the small airport and got on a plane. When they landed there were two cars waiting. Irene instructed one of the drivers to take Ethan and Serena wherever they wanted to go and left with the other one. Ethan told the driver to take them to Serena's place and they made themselves comfortable in the back.

"What are your plans for tonight," Serena asked.

"I'm going to make sure you get home safe," Ethan replied.

"What about after that?"

"I don't know, I haven't decided yet."

"Would you like to stay with me? You can sleep over if you want." She looked at him hopeful and a little nervous.

Ethan had considered the option, but he didn't want to invite himself over. Not this time. But she had asked and he was only too happy to accept the invitation.

When they got to her place Serena seemed to be in a good mood, almost as if the event of the past three days never happened.

"You can use the shower first," she said. Ethan tried to protest, but she held up her hand. "You're my guest. You go first. I'll get you a towel." With that she walked off towards the bedroom. Ethan followed her. He put down her suitcase, which Kristen had given to Irene, near the door.

"I can wash your clothes. Just leave them outside the bathroom. I'll find something for you to wear in the meantime."

Ethan nodded, running a hand over the stubble on his cheek absent mindedly..

"I'm sorry I don't have any razors," Serena said, noticing his gesture, even if he didn't, "Well, none that you would want to use. I mean, you're welcome to try one of mine. Just be careful. You know the angle is all different."

"Thank you, Serena," he said accepting the towel. When he got in the shower he let the warm water run over him, relaxing for the first time in many days. When he got out he felt good, except now that he was all clean the beard was bothering him and he decided to take Serena up on her offer. He found a fresh razor in the medicine cabinet. He pondered for a second over the lady scented shaving cream and opted for the soap. He managed to pull off a decent shave without any cuts.

When he emerged back to the bedroom, the towel wrapped around his waist, he saw a black t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts on the bed. He picked up the shirt and was about to put it on when he heard the door open.

"Hey Ethan, I..." Serena's voice trailed off. Ethan turned around to find her staring at his body with a horrified look. She walked forward, reached out to touch him, but pulled back.

"What did they do to you?" she asked, concerned. Ethan looked down at the cuts on his sides. he knew his back was covered in them too.

"It's nothing." He shrugged. "It will heal and I'm pretty sure there won't even be any scars."

Serena's hand went to the cut on her side. "Is that what they were going to do to me?" She looked at him, distressed.

Ethan met her eyes, with a look of compassion, the kind you give people when you have bad news. For Serena that look was enough.

"She didn't say nothing permanent about me," she said quietly, turning away.

"Serena." Ethan put a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter now. You're fine and you're safe."

She turned back, searching his face. "How far were you going to let them go?" She spoke quietly with no hint of accusation.

Ethan's expression became pained. He thought about defending himself. After all if he had told Roberts what he wanted to know a lot of people would have been in danger, deadly danger. She watched his turmoil, his silence telling her more than his words ever could.

"I don't know," he said finally. She nodded and started to turn away again, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Sometimes we are faced with difficult choices." Serena's lips curled into a bitter smile at that. "I'm really really glad that I ultimately didn't have to make the choice." He smiled and pushed her hair back over her ear. "Serena, I care about you. I don't think I could have let them do anything permanent to you."

She looked in his eyes, this time with a genuine smile. "I'm glad you didn't have to make the choice too."

Ethan pulled her in and hugged her tightly. She put her hands around him, low on his waist to avoid irritating his cuts. They stood like that for a minute, just happy that this was all over.

Then the doorbell rang. Ethan stiffened. "I ordered some takeout," Serena said, pulling away.

When she left Ethan put on the clothes and found they were a good fit. He didn't particularly like going commando, but it was still better than the clothes he had worn for four days.

They ate together before Serena went to use the shower. Ethan took advantage to check in with HQ. By then it was getting late and they were both tired. Ethan offered to sleep on the couch, but Serena gave him a look like he was crazy.

"We have slept together before," she said. "And my bed is a lot bigger than either of those other times."

Ethan could not argue with that. He was happy to finally be able to sleep in a real bed.

"Ethan," Serena said as they lay in the dark room. "Thanks for staying over tonight."

He turned his head and met her eyes, barely visible in the dim light filtering in through the curtain. He studied her, this girl with whom he was sharing a bed for the third time, and all they had ever done was cuddle. She was so different from Meiko or Irene, and when he thought about it it was her company that he enjoyed the most.

"There's nowhere else I would rather be," he said, and meant it. Serena smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night, Ethan."

"Good night, Serena."


	20. Epilogue

The next day Ethan was leaving Serena's building when a man came up to him and handed him a small envelope, disappearing before Ethan could say anything. Ethan opened the envelope and found a note inside.

'I would like to see you tonight. Same time, same place.'

There was no signature, but in the bottom right corner there was a small black square. Ethan grinned to himself. In his life there was never a dull moment.


End file.
